Silly, But I'd Still Love to Live There

A friend of mine tipped me off to this little development in Oregon: The Shire. Ok, so maybe living there would feel a bit like becoming a permanent resident of Disneyland. But hey, it still resonates strongly with my inner nerd. Thank goodness I don't live in Oregon (otherwise I'd be seriously tempted).

The sit has other uses. I love to gather floor plans for gaming purposes, and this site has a bunch of cool pseudo-medieval houses and town homes that might be appropriate for some cinematic fantasy games that aren't so firmly grounded in historical accuracy (like Dragonspire, for example).

Microsoft Office

No, not the business software. It's David Brent from the BBC's Office giving tips to Microsoft UK. Get it on Google video while you still can.

Time For A Photo Update

More pictures from Finn's first birthday start here.

Aside: Somebody needs to invent a way to squeeze four more hours of work into a day. I have a bazillion things that I'd like to post and no time to do it.

His Majesty's Dragon

I just completed the third book of Naomi Novik's new Temeraire series. For those of you who are unfamiliar, they tell the story of an alternate Napoleonic war... but with dragons! Think Master and Commander meets Dragonriders of Pern. The amazing Ken Hite sums up my thoughts on the books: "I hope the books sell in their millions; Novik has truly hit the sweet spot between lame and recondite where All Is Forgiven."

And good news for Temeraire fans. Peter Jackson of LOTR fame has just secured the rights to the books. He describes his interest in the book in this interview over at AICN .

GM Concept Car (Hydrogen Powered)

From my friend Steve...

Check out this video of a GM concept car that is
hydrogen powered.

http://www.youtube.com/v/ry6w3mRm-FM

Pity that we will have to wait 10-20 years to see
something like this go into production.

Wow, finally something interesting coming out of Detroit.

More Medical Hype

This article in The Independent makes a convincing case that a new technique called RNA interference is about to revolutionize medicine. Of course, there is always some major breakthrough knocking on the door. Something as revolutionary as antibiotics is hard to imagine... but not impossible. We seem to be about due for such an advance. Stem cells and gene therapy all hold similar promise, but this new technique may beat them to the punch.

Out of Town

Just a quick update from Michigan...

We're here visiting friends and family and tomorrow we will be celebrating Finn's first birthday (about a week early). The little boy is having a great time exploring his grandparents' houses but he could probably do without all the car-seat time. Mommy and daddy are having fun as well (and yippee, they were able to go to a Michigan football game for the first time in ages).
We'll be back in VA soon. Look for more updates then.