The Terrafugia Transition:

The Transition is basically a street-legal sport aircraft, and is one of the closest flying cars to actually winding up in your garage. The wings accordion up to vertical positions so the vehicle can drive on roads.

Cool factor: Call it Jetson’s law — the closer flying cars get to reality, the more homely they become. The Transition resembles a VW bug driving backwards with vertical drywall sheets tacked to the sides.

How far off is it? Terrafugia is actively working with the FAA to make sure the Transition is compliant. They’ve got it classified as only needing a sport license (which you can get done in 20 hours), and the Transition has made several real-world flights. Terrafugia will even allow you to put a refundable deposit on your own Transition if you send them a $10,000 check. From there, you’ve only got $184,000 left to put down if you want them to build one for you — not a bad price considering a 1976 Beechcraft propellor plane will run you $250,000.

What sets it apart from the competition: Their website has more than a handful of low-polygonal renders.

Macro Industries’ Skyrider X2R

On the other end of the spectrum, Macro Industries has created the Skyrider X2R. When you think of flying cars, this is what comes to mind. It’s vertical-takeoff-and-landing architecture means that no runway would be required.

Cool factor: We’ll admit it — this vehicle’s got some slink to it. The four ducted fans give it a serious musclebound look, while the sleekness of the chassis implies speed. Too bad we can’t show it to you — Macro’s website prohibits any reposting of images.

How far off is it? The site says that the X2R will be available five years after they get investment funding. Which likely hasn’t occurred yet, since their website was copyrighted in 2001. And, even once they do get funding to start developing a full-size model (the current scale prototype looks like a leftover from ‘Thunderbirds’), the initial cost is expected to be “$500,000 to $1 million per unit,” although once it takes off, it’ll miraculously drop to $50,000.

What sets it apart from the competition: The VTOL aspect is hugely enticing, and the lack of runway would help the conveyance be adopted by the suburban masses. Also, their site requires you to use Real Player.

Milner Aircar

While Milner has produced a full-size AirCar, their product description is woefully short on details. Nuggets like “one or two engines, with propellors or ducted fans will carry the aircraft.” One or two engines? Until you figure out how many it needs to stay aloft, I think I’ll just sit this one out.

Cool factor: The sweeping fenders and front fins grant the AirCar a decidedly 1930s era look — it’s just missing a Rolls Royce hood ornament to complete the illusion. Looking like a cross between a Nazi secret weapon and a personal massager, the AirCar doesn’t exactly captivate the senses in photographs.

How far off is it? Milner has installed a small electric motor so the prototype can be driven. But the next step is “to hire an aeronautical engineering company to do the required engineering to build the flyable prototype.” But it’s really no big thing; at least the upholstery’s in place.

What sets it apart from the competition: Four doors — this thing is family, baby. It also uses parts from a Geo Metro, so we’re pretty sure it’ll work out well.

The Samson Switchblade

Samson Motorworks advertises three different models of flying vehicle on their site, but the only one they appear to be putting development into is the Switchblade. More of an airbike than a flying car, the Switchblade is a tiny, lightweight aircraft.

Cool factor: In renderings, the Switchblade looks pretty hot. It’s forward-sloping, aerodynamic design gives is a distinct Colonial Viper look.

How far off is it? Unfortunately, the craft is little more than a go-cart at the moment. Samson has a working ground vehicle, but it can’t get out of first gear and go more than 30MPH.

What sets it apart from the competition: That sweet styling and scissored wing design is a welcome change from the “wingless aircraft” look that comes from other flying car prototypes.

Afghanistan: A Duracell subsidiary

just got a visit from Pentagon Clearing House with a post-dated check for 200 infinity trillion dollars.  Or whatever that equals in Afghanis.  The funny thing is that this motherlode of every single mineral on the periodic table was alluded to almost 30 years ago by the Soviets during their skirmish with the locals.  And yet it took another war and two flyovers by tech-savvy geologists to confirm it, and THEN a half decade to actually break the news and set the gears in motion to start mining the stuff.  What happened to the days when Jed Clampett shot a hole in the ground and ten days later was living the high life in Beverly?

But it’s a classic. And, as DVD sales figures corroborate, it’s left a mark on today’s thirtysomethings.

At it’s core, it’s every kid’s fantasy — including my own — that a world of adventure exists just under our feet. “The Goonies” was one of the first VHS tapes I ever owned, and more than a decade ago, it was the movie my wife and I watched as part of our first date in a stranger’s basement (long story for another day).

The kids

I’m a sucker for stereotyped ensemble casts (something the ’80s gave us plenty of). The characters are so black-and-white that anyone can find a member to identify with. The cheerleader, the smartass, the exasperated older brother, the genius — no matter who you were, you could find yourself in the cast of “The Goonies.”

In a particularly good ensemble cast, you find pieces of yourself in all of the characters — I shared Mikey’s love to drag my friends into pickles, Chunk’s love of all things junky, and Data’s propensity for gadgets. (I used to spend hours in the garage trying to mimic his creations.)

The soundtrack

This was the golden age of “Big Movie” scores — of blaring french horns and dramatic strings, and “The Goonies” was no exception. But composer Dave Grusin added another layer to the soundtrack, imbibing it with an almost fugue-like feel with undercurrents of jazz.

Add to that the pop soundtrack which features the famous bopping single by Cyndi Lauper and a host of other 80s staples (REO Speedwagon and The Bangles), and it’s a one-two punch of nostalgia.

The villains

Director Richard Donner nailed the portrayal of The Fratellis. They’re kid friendly enough to keep nightmares at bay, but they’re not over the top and bumbling. Beneath the comedic occasional pratfall, effort was spent reminding the audience that the criminals aren’t just bad guys with a heart of gold — they’re actual villains.

The locale

Before I saw this movie, I didn’t know Astoria from Aberdeen. But after seeing the rocky cliffs, misty shores and lush forests of the Oregon coast, it cemented a desire to one day live there.

The cool dampness embodied mystery, and the fog took the harsh edges off of the corners of life. To this day, I’d love the opportunity to relocate to a place like that.

And, most importantly, the lifestyle

This movie resonated with me because of my independent and idyllic suburban upbringing, a lifestyle which has all but vanished today.

Our backyard gave way to a small cornfield surrounded by a forest. If you tromped long enough through the forest, you came out on the back side of a cemetery. During the summer, my parents wouldn’t see me from after breakfast to just before dinner. My friends and I would drag our bikes all over suburban Michigan, having adventures along the crick in the forest, and making up tales about the names on the graves in the cemetery.

Contrast that to today, where I don’t let my child ride her bike more than three houses in any direction, and that’s with me constantly peering out of the blinds. Our back yard opens onto a nature area replete with trees and a small creek — but I seize up in panic at the thought of her ever venturing out there for a moment, much less all day.

Watching that movie (which my trusty old 4-head VCR can still squeak through) brings back not only the memory of adventure could lie beneath any corner of suburban Michigan, but the innocence of the era that accompanied it.

What about you? Do you see Goonies as a corny kid flick or something more important? My self worth is based on your discussion below!

This incredible video rubs salt in our nerdy little wound. Shot over six weeks and 100 hours of footage, this time-lapse Smithsonian video shows just what it takes to get the shuttle prepped and ready for flight.

Incredible.

At least Gozer won't be able to come through on the roof.

But as tenants of a high rise residence tower in the Belltown area of Seattle found out recently, that is a naive (and long-winded) statement to make.  Especially naive if you have spent any amount of time in the Pacific Northwest, where construction disasters are about as novel a sight as overcaffeination.  I know “rust” and “wrong components” are fringe Manbearpig alarmist theories, but in some fairly mainstream circles, buildings built in 2000 could be reasonably expected to not have an anticipated crumble date of 2019.

And to make matters even more fun, since Belltown is such a hopping and cozy neighborhood (I can vouch for it. Check out Mama’s Mexican Kitchen. Tasty.), they have to go to great expense to carefully take it down as not to debris-shower everyone to death.

This got me thinking.  If I was in space, which women would I want with me.  Which space women, that is.   And then of course, how would they behave on the ISS?  My list -

Princess Leia – Of course the constant committee making would be a nuisance, but she’s got good organizational and telling-it-like-it-is skills.

Starbuck – Sure, she might get into the dehydrated whiskey packets and try to light a cigar near the oxygen tanks, but if anyone is going to get you back to earth she is.  It’s her destiny after all.

Lisa Hayes – She runs a tight ship, she’s a steadfast XO (won’t start a military coup like Saul Tigh) and while she has them, her daddy issues aren’t nearly as complicated as Princess Leia’s.

Majel Barrett-Roddenberry – “But Autumn”  you say “she’s not a fictional character!”  I know but I couldn’t decide which of her four characters I liked best.  If you need to know something you could ask Enterprise Computer Roddenberry and she would respond telling you to specify the request.  Nurse Chapel could help with any injuries or pining-after-Vulcan emergencies.  Number One would have your back and Lwaxana Troi.  Well, she’s just awesome for those times when you have to make your captain uncomfortable by her over the top flirtations.

Side note, I was going to go with Ripley until my buddy Matt suggested Lisa Hayes.  This is why -

Ripley – Ok, so she won’t put that pulse rifle down and she won’t stop looking around the bulkhead suspiciously, but if things get ugly…well, she’ll survive…and maybe the cat… if there are any space cats up there…

Note - tongue in cheek, please don’t think I’ve set the women’s movement back before the space age ;D

This excites me; not only for the potential insights it will bring to dark matter; not only for the wealth of new jokes Sheldon will inevitably soliloquize about on the “Big Bang Theory.”

No, not just for those lofty dreams, but also so that I can share this with you -

http://www.hasthelargehadroncolliderdestroyedtheworldyet.com

aheheeheheheeheheeheee hee heh.

I saw this picture and knew I had to check this Star Party out.

My friend Whitney read in LA Weekly about these great Star Parties out near Joshua Tree National Park. They’re located at the Joshua Tree Lake Campgrounds.  The Southern California Desert Video Astronomers set up telescopes and screens to project the images straight from the telescopes.  Sounds amazing, right?  The campgrounds looked fine with the website bragging that it’s “the discerning camper’s ultimate choice,” so we made a reservation, loaded up our camping gear and drove out Saturday morning.  While checking into the campgrounds we were told that there was going to be a group having a rave and that there would be no refund if we decided it was too loud.  Okay, fine.  I want to see the stars and I’m down for a rave every now and then, typically at DragonCon but while camping could be fun.

This cancellation policy about sums up the campgrounds

Turns out Joshua Tree Lake is really a stagnate little pond and the campground is a dirt and gravel parking lot with no clear designations of where the camp sites actually are.  And not a Joshua tree in sight.  There goes my plans to dance naked through the Joshua trees under the crescent moon at the Spring Equinox.  We found an empty spot and then had to “steal” a picnic table and fire barrel from random empty location.

Setting up camp in a gravel parking lot with not a Joshua Tree in sight.

After we set up camp, we played games, read books, took naps, baked peach cobbler in the dutch oven (thanks for the recipe Paula Deen), and made grilled cheese with my new pie iron.

I won Boggle and one round of Uno.

Caught up on some reading.

Kristen and Whitney resting up for an evening of cooking and stars.

Kristen and Whitney baking cobbler.

Grilled cheese sandwiches and a hotdog or two.

We had a steady beat as a soundtrack to all our activities.  After eating, we checked out the Star Party.  Remember that great picture with five screens.  Yeah, this is what it really looked like.

Only one screen. Somewhat disappointing, but still kind of cool.

However, there was another telescope set up where you could look through the eyepiece.  Got a great view of the crescent moon and a pretty good view of Saturn.  The Mickey Mouse wizard hat wearing man running the Star Party did have one of those crazy light pointers.  Apparently, you can’t buy them in the states since they mess with airplanes in the sky.  20 minutes in, we were done and headed back to our little rusty fire barrel for some campfire time.  Around 11 pm we crawled into our tent.  Here’s the thing, our tent seemed to amplify all the chattering, drum circling noise of our extremely close neighbors.  We lasted 10 minutes.  Shoved our tent in the car and drove back to Los Angeles in the middle of the night.  Best camping trip ever.  Okay, maybe not but I’m convinced that if I say it enough it’ll be true.

Anytime I can see the stars, I'm happy.

**********************************************SPOILER ALERT*******************************************************************

Discovering that the main character is really a plant made me remember reading an article on WiredScience about this evolutionary wonder of a creature.  The Elysia Chlorotica, or green sea slug.

I want one as a pet. I bet they feel all squishy and cool. And they're just plain cute.

These solar powered green sea slugs actually carry out photosynthesis.  They have the genes to make chlorophyll and do so by using the chloroplasts that they ingest.  Interestingly, the gene to make chlorophyll is passed on to their offspring.  However, the new generation are not able to carry out photosynthesis until they have ingested and “stolen” chloroplasts from their diet, algae.  The coolest part is that these sea slugs can sustain themselves in a controlled environment without food as long as they are blasted with 12 hours of light.  I love how fantastical our world is.

Nikki Graziano sees math everywhere.  I have to admit, I’m a bit jealous.  And after looking at her math art, I started seeing graphs everywhere.  She said she “wanted to create something that could communicate how awesome math is, to everyone.”  Well done, math geek, well done.