Daily Illuminator Archive for August 2003

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August 1, 2003:
Our world's youth aren't immune to the effects of alien abductions . . . read article

August 2, 2003:
Airport security workers in Florida were recently called upon to scan their most unusual package ever . . . a manatee. Here's the CNN story . . . read article

August 3, 2003:
Last week I reached the point of complete apathy about our local paper, the Austin American-Statesman. The editorial policy is (by Texas standards) kneejerk liberal, and spills blatantly into local news coverage . . . read article

August 4, 2003:
Read about the "Cyborg Liberation Front" in the Village Voice. Delight in the ideas of those who are thinking ahead . . . read article

August 5, 2003:
Randy Milholland, creator of the webcomic Something Positive, has Steve and Michelle as cameo characters in the sequence that started August 2-3. Steve isn't telling if this is a true story or not . . . . . read article

August 6, 2003:
I am delighted to report that Kevin Pease has restarted Absurd Notions. The current sequence involves the voyages of the spacegoing merchant ship Biff and her worse-than-motley crew. Traveller fans, you'll see yourselves here . . . . . read article

August 7, 2003:
NASA is building a Mars habitat simulation, where they can test recycling technologies, drilling equipment, safety procedures, and more. Plus, it gives us an excuse to remind you that all this is already covered in GURPS Mars and Transhuman Space: In The Well, making us wonder why NASA doesn't just pick up a couple of copies and save themselves the $2 million . . . read article

August 8, 2003:
At least not without a healthy prayer, or perhaps a chorus of chants. Water carries within it information, and it responds to different emotional states . . . read article

August 9, 2003:
At the end of this month, SJ Games will close down its miniatures operation. During that time, we plan to cast enough metal to allow for expected sales through the end of 2003; after that, the lines will probably go out of print . . . read article

August 10, 2003:
NASA has selected the machine they're going to send to Mars in 2007 as the first in their Mars Scout series -- a lander with a robot arm that will dig for water and analyze soil samples for signs of life. The lander, called the Phoenix Project, will be designed and built at the University of Arizona -- the very proud Tucson Citizen has the story . . . read article

August 11, 2003:
Matthew Pook reviews X-Bugs in The Ogre Cave, and admits that his daughter can beat him. That's okay . . . read article

August 12, 2003:
A feng shui expert has explained why the German parliament is having so much trouble lately -- it's their building. CNN reports on his unique proposal to fix the problem . . . read article

August 13, 2003:
By the time you read this, I will be in sunny (ha!) Seattle, where I will be attending the Dragonflight convention this coming weekend . . . read article

August 14, 2003:
The World Science Fiction Convention - in Toronto this year - had been in my travel plans, and now it's not. Foo . . . read article

August 15, 2003:
Pyramid is proud to announce a new feature to our pages (well, electrons): David Morgan-Mar's Irregular Webcomic makes its biweekly debut, with all-new installments you can only get here! So if you're a Pyramid subscriber and like adventuring action figures, endangered Legos, or Cthulhoid wackiness, then Irregular Webcomic should be right up your alley . . . read article

August 16, 2003:
There's nothing wrong with soylent green a decent marketing campaign can't fix, as the Soylent Green Biscuit Company ably demonstrates . . . read article

August 17, 2003:
Steve Jackson Games is proud to announce the following releases for November 2003: Ninja Burger Now you can join the elite Ninja Burger delivery team! You will learn to deliver tasty burgers and fries anywhere . . . read article

August 18, 2003:
Well, Warehouse 23 sold more miniatures the day after the announcement than it had all year. There's a moral there somewhere . . . read article

August 19, 2003:
Here's what will hit the shelves of your local game store in the very near future. We know you expected to see Munchkin 3: Clerical Errors on this list . . . read article

August 20, 2003:
I am lobbying SJ to open a Seattle office for the summer. Stepping off the plane in Austin was deucedly unpleasant after having spent nearly a week in temperate climes . . . read article

August 21, 2003:
Is it a coincidence there've been so many Mars stories lately? Hardly . . . read article

August 22, 2003:
Some of us find old sofas by the side of the road and refurbish our apartments with them. The Disposal Services Agency in the United Kingdom is a lot like that except they sell the stuff they pick up . . . read article

August 23, 2003:
Got some great new products available in Warehouse 23. Check 'em out! W A R E H O U S E   2 3   O N L Y  Ogre Mk . . . read article

August 24, 2003:
It could be said that die-hard gamers have their love for the hobby coded into their very genes . . . and now, U.S. scientists have developed a DNA computer that can play tic-tac-toe . . . read article

August 25, 2003:
Frustrated Austrian highway authorities, unable to reduce the accident rate on a particular stretch of autobahn any other way, have turned to local druids to erect stone monoliths to re-establish the natural flow of "earth energy" and bring the area back into spiritual harmony. So far, it's working . . . read article

August 26, 2003:
The Zombie Infection Simulator. Enjoy . . . read article

August 27, 2003:
More Mars news -- Latest readings from the Mars Global Surveyor came up negative for large deposits of carbonates (like limestone), the tell-tale rock left behind after large seas and oceans recede.  “This really points to a cold, frozen, icy Mars that has probably always been that way, as opposed to a warm, humid, ocean Mars sometime in the past,” Arizona St. researcher Philip Christensen said. The MSNBC.com story has all the details -- and if you have a speedy connection, definitely check out the Mars slide show that's part of the story . . . read article

August 28, 2003:
Car Wars fans, take note: a seller on eBay is offering a 1986 Trans Am done up by California custom car king George Barris for a never-aired 1986 television show called Force III. The premise of Force III had three government agents fighting the forces of evil behind the wheels of their custom combat vehicles . . . read article

August 29, 2003:
Once again this year, our very own Loren Wiseman (art director, GURPS Traveller Senior Line Editor, and debonair man about town) is one of over 300 guests at this year's DragonCon, going on this very weekend in Atlanta, GA. Loren will be all over the con, no doubt, but you could probably track him down at the Steve Jackson Games booth (look for it, like at most big conventions, alongside Atlas and Dork Storm under the Adventure Retail banner) -- or at least get a closer bead on his whereabouts . . . read article

August 30, 2003:
Remember the fellow who spammed the Internet, desperately seeking equipment that would allow him to travel through time? Looks like Dave Hill was able to hook him up . . . read article

August 31, 2003:
A group of us got together today to drive down south a bit to visit the San Antonio Museum of Art – which, among other things, is featuring a Dale Chihuly exhibition. The theory was that we'd go take in the museum, and then drive back and run a playtest session of the Dork Tower game . . . read article

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