MIA is at the Fine Line tonight.

Tickets are $18 and you might run into me there.

Soda Fountain

Cool: get a 2-liter bottle of diet soda and some Mentos and make a mess in your local park.

Conquer the world all over again

There is a demo available on the official website of Age of Empires III, which will be released on October 18th. I loooved the first two as well as Age of Mythology. The first PC games I played were SimCity and Civilization and I think they had a profound effect on the types of games I like to play. No first-person shooters for me, I prefer turn-based empire building followed by a swift defeat of my enemies with my technologically superior army.

Civilization's sequels Civ II and Call to Power were great, especially with the expansions like Fantastic Worlds. Unfortunately, Civ3 was a massive disappointment and I haven't risked getting any expansions for it. The good news is there's a Civ4 on it's way, releasing October 25th.

Superman, Superbucks

The budget for Superman Returns is nearing $326 million, and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire's budget is $305 million. Add the cost of Titanic and Spiderman 2 (only $200 million each) and you have four movies that cost over $1 billion to make.

Surftracks

Drive to China: a proposal for a bridge over the Bering Strait

IGN interviews Billy West, the voice of Fry, Zoidberg, the Professor and Zapp Brannigan on Futurama.

Placeopedia connects Wikipedia articles with their locations.

See the world from the top of Mt Everest.

Want to watch live tv from around the world?

MIT offers OpenCourseWare which is "a free and open educational resource for faculty, students, and self-learners around the world."

Read who made the list of the 50 biggest nerds of all time, including what their Defining Nerd Moment was. Example: 14. Millhouse Van Houten Bart Simpson's bull-nosed sidekick. Defining nerd moment: Millhouse manages to out-nerd other Simpsons' characters, even Martin Prince, Professor Frink and Lisa, when he buys Bart's soul for $5 and sells it to Comic Book Guy for Alf pogs.

Keep track of the numbers that shape our world, and then visit the hunger site and the five other tabs it links to so you can help save the planet a little each day.

What makes Uranus unique?

The planet of Uranus has an axis that is almost parallel to it's orbital plane (most planets' are close to perpendicular), so it looks like it's rolling as it orbits the sun. This means the polar regions would experience 42 years of light and 42 years of darkness, since one Uranian year is equal to 84 earth years.

As for the mythological figure Uranus, he seemed to have a problem with not having kids the usual way. He is credited as the father of the Erinyes, Hecatonchires, Cyclopses and Titans (and therefore the grandfather of Zeus). Then, there was the whole thing where Gaia (his mother and wife) got tired of him constantly reproducing with her and hiding the kids that she convinced their son Cronus to cut his manhood off with a sickle. Cronus then threw the body parts into the sea and stories differ as to whether Aphrodite was born of this, or if it produced the island of Corfu. The blood from this fun family activity fell to Earth and produced giants and nymphs.

Wizard DNA

I finished the Half-Blood Prince last night and ran across a post that discusses the ancestry of Harry and some of his classmates.

Dark, acrid smoke now rises above Victoria Falls gorge in place of the mist

ZWnews.com reports on the current state of the area surrounding Victoria Falls. This is the result of Operation Murambatsvina (Shona for Operation Drive Out Trash), where the government destroyed the homes of urban poor people claiming it was just a crackdown on criminal activity.

Geeking out over Harry Potter

The last four weeks of my life have been dominated by Harry Potter books. I started reading the first one on August 13th, and am nearing the end of book five today (600 out of 870 pages). On Wednesday, I saw the trailer for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in the theater and have now watched it several times on Netflix. It opens by showing Harry in each of the three previous movies and then showing the longer-haired version of him that will be in the new movie. They show Ron and Hermionie the same way, and then quick shots of various parts of the Triwizard tournament, along with Dumbledore's ominous quote. In order to fit all 734 pages of the book into one movie, neither the Dursleys nor Molly Weasley will be in this one. I wish they'd keep it all in, but I realize how confusing the story would be if it was split into two movies. I really can't wait until November 18th!

The Wisdom of the White Stripes

Black Math - Is it the fingers or the brain that you're teaching the lesson?
Fell in Love With a Girl - My left brain knows that all love is fleeting.
I Wanna be the Boy… - I never said I was the heir to a fortune, I never claimed to have any looks.
Seven Nation Army - And I'm talking to myself at night, because I can't forget.
Sugar Never Tasted so Good - Until her soul fell next to me
We Are Gonna be Friends - Tonight I'll dream while in my bed, when silly thoughts go through my head.