Friday, March 21, 2003

BBC's Walking with Caveman



After producing two remarkable TV series, Walking with Dinosaurs and Walking with Beasts, what else can the BBC produce but Walking with Cavemen?



Hopefully, I can see this series in the near future. But at present, my question would be "Cavemen? But they don't live in caves, do they?"

Amazing sequence shot of the Sun going around in a figure-8


The Astronomy Picture of the Day site often gives wonderful astonomy related photos, like this one of the sun going through a 'sunrise analemma'.



A 'analemma' is a figure-8 loop you get if you mark the sun's position at the same time of the day each day. We know the sun rises and sets at slightly different positions each day but it is fascinating to see it visually in this remarkable photo.

Thursday, March 20, 2003

The man/woman behind M.U.L.E


M.U.L.E. was one of my favourite computer games many years ago. It put up to four players on a planet who try to become rich by mining the planet or trading with fellow players. This Salon article looks at Dan(i) Bunten, the creator of M.U.L.E. and the life he/she lead that would lead to the creation of M.U.L.E. and his/her philosophy behind the purpose of computer games.

(If you are wondering about the pronouns, you will discover in the article that Dan(i) underwent a sex change operation. But that should not distract you from reading a very interesting article.)

Making small optical fibres using spider-silk


This New Scientist article looks at an interesting way to make very fine optical fibres: coat a string of spider silk, then bake it to remove the silk, leading to a very narrow, hollow optical fibre that could be used to very small optical circuits.

Wednesday, March 19, 2003

Disney's The Lion King out on DVD in October 2003


According to this DVDFile.com News Disney will be releasing the DVD of The Lion King on October 7, 2003. The story has more details on the DVD set.

This is my most anticipated DVD from Disney Animation, after getting Beauty and the Beast on DVD.

WHO info on Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)



The World Health Organisation (WHO) now has a site on Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). It has information on what is SARS and daily updates on the spread and investigation into what may be causing SARS.

Monday, March 17, 2003

World Health Organisation travel advisory on Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)



The World Health Organisation has issued a world-wide travel advisory on Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), an 'atypical' pneumonia that has cause several deaths world-wide. See this current WHO press release for more info on what is known (and not known) about SARS.