Feb 28 2009 Astronomers Photograph the Eye Of God

Finally, a clear shot of God's eye.

The European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere, aka (mercifully) ESO, has released an impressive image of the Helix Nebula captured by La Silla Observatory in Chile.

The nebula, lying at around 700 light-years away in the constellation of Aquarius, has quickly been dubbed the "Eye of God", for obvious reasons.

I've got news for you folks: this is not, in fact, God's real eye. How do I know? Well you remember in Raiders of the Lost Ark when the Germans finally opened the Ark of the Covenant? What happened? Precisely -- ghosts and shit flew out and shot through their stupid Nazi faces and killed them all. That one dude even melted. So, you still alive? Exactly.

Stargazers peer into the 'Eye of God' [theregister]

Thanks to Tim, who knows the true eye of God burns like a laserbeam.

Feb 5 2009 Have You Ever Wondered How Much It Would Cost To Build Your Own Death Star? Hint: I Didn't Even Know That Was A Real Number

Let's face it, we all want our own Death Star. But how much would it actually cost to build one, today? Well, a lot. Try 15 septillion dollars. That's $15,602,022,489,829,821,422,840,226! Ladies and gentlemen, we may have to settle for the half-sized model.

(The Death Star has) a volume of 17.16 quadrillion cubic meters. At 1/10 volume, we'll need 1.71 Quadrillion cubic meters of steel, weighing in at 134 quadrillion tonnes. In 2008 steel products, from wire to ingots were selling for an average of $962 per tonne, so our cost of steel alone is $12.95 quintillion.

Now, how about getting that into space? According to the numbers I could find on the internet, it costs around $95 million to ship 1 tonne of materials into space, so that means we'll be cutting NASA a cheque for $12.79 septillion. (Remind me to order larger cheques from the bank please.)

Okay, so if we can cut out NASA we can basically save ourselves $13 septillion, dropping the total cost of a Death Star to a paltry $2 septillion. Now I think that's manageable folks -- so you start sending me your money, and I'll start building a strip club the rocketship.

Check out the first link for a much more in-depth look into all the costs associated with the project.

One Death Star for $15 Septillion? What a deal! [rickgold]
via
One Death Star for $15 Septillion?! [starwarsblog]

Thanks to Adam, who the Force is totally with.

Jul 31 2008 Air Force Seeks Anti-PEW-PEW Spray

In a recent request for proposals, the Air Force has asked for the development of an anti-laser spray or embeddable layer than can be retrofitted on equipment and prevent it from being damaged by pew-pews for up to five seconds.

The idea isn't to render the weapons "impervious" to ray gun blasts. The Air Force just wants the shield to delay the laser burning through a weapon's skin -- five seconds or so ought to do the job. The best way to make it happen, the service believes, is with "a thermal protection coating (e.g., spray-on) or a broadband reflector embedded layer on [the] munition['s] skin."

Basically, we want to be able to get a missile to target without being lasered out of the sky. After skimming over the request (okay, so I didn't actually read it), I quickly filed a proposal.

To: Whoever dishes out the grant money
From: The Geekologie Writer
Subject: Request For Anti-Pew-Pew Technology

Two words: Duct to the muthaf***in' tape. Cash or Paypal preferred. Thank you.

CHA-CHING!

Note: The video just demonstrates how laser shoot downs work.

Air Force Looks to Laser-Proof Its Weapons [wired]

Thanks to Richie, who actually coined the term "anti-pew-pew-spray".

Feb 5 2008 Wicked MASHERTRON Robot Suit On eBay

A Canadian by the name Steve Masher made a pretty wicked robot costume and is selling it on eBay. It's called MASHERTRON (an homage to his sweet last name).

The suit comes with Z0M190D type 2 deathray, composite fiber chest armor and whatever awesome name you want to call the head. selling because i am starting collage next year and it is very expensive. if you ask nicely i might be willing to include the ax for free as well.

He might include the ax!?! I thought the suit alone was enough to justify the $503 starting bid. Just look at that extensive use of packing tape to hold his horn thingies on. That stuff doesn't come cheap folks. And the death ray on his arm? Awesome. I'm just glad he was smart enough to not point it directly at the camera for the picture, otherwise we'd all be dead.

NOTE: I'm not totally sure, but this auction may be a hoax. Mostly because the seller mentions starting "collage" next year, which I'm pretty sure is an art project made out of cut-up magazines and is not "very expensive" like he claims.

eBay Auction

Thanks to Ryan, who doesn't make cardboard armor because he values his sex life, for the tip