Genesis, that satellite those wacky NASA guys stuck up in space to gather data on the sun, sent a 500lb sample capsule filled with Solar Dust to the Earth. The capsule then slammed into Earth at an estimated speed of 100mph last Wednesday after parachutes failed to deploy. The original plan had called for a mid-air retrieval by Helicopter pilots (a stunt which would make Hollywood proud), but the capsule came in a little too fast. Recovery operations were also hampered by the failure, since the explosives designed to the release the parachutes had not exploded and were believed to still be armed.

The Genesis return capsule crashed in the desert on Wednesday after its parachutes failed to deploy. The craft missed a mid-air retrieval meant to save the spacecraft from hitting the Earth.

“The capsule has suffered extensive damage. It has broken apart on the desert floor,” said an official on NASA TV. “Hopefully, there will be enough evidence to see what went wrong. Whether there will be enough science left inside remains to be seen.”

NASA officials at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California said that long-range cameras did not detect the parachutes that should have slowed the craft.

“There was no drogue chute or parafoil,” said a JPL spokesman. “Under those condition, the Genesis capsule hit the ground at about 100 mph.”

The good news is it appears most of the material is still intact:

Amazingly, scientists say, much of the contents — microscopic particles that once rode the solar wind and are now embedded on shattered collector plates — should be salvageable.

In a teleconference with reporters today, mission officials said contamination is their greatest worry, since desert dirt entered the capsule. They need to retrieve the Sun samples in pristine form. The goal is to learn more about the Sun’s composition and the history of the solar system and planet formation.

The team might seek advice on handling the wafer-thin collector devices from the semiconductor industry, said Don Burnett, Genesis principal investigator from the California Institute of Technology.

What is it with NASA these days? Are they just having bad luck or is it bad quality control?

Serbia has reversed their ruling on banning Darwin’s Theory of Evolution in schools. Amusingly enough, the minister who announced it stated, and I quote, “I have come here to confirm Charles Darwin is still alive.” Charles Darwin died in 1882. He is very dead. The whole creationism vs. evolution debate is amusing. Creationism claims that all the animals on the planet just appeared one day. Evolution claims it took millions of years. From a logical stand point, Creationism doesn’t make any sense. Dinosaurs roamed the Earth before any of the mammals we know and love. They died, mammals took over the Earth. Did God just start making more? Those Dinosaurs just aren’t working for me so I’m going to kill ‘em all and start again. How many sudden appearances of Animals occured?

The thing is the Theory of Evolution does not preclude God. Darwin stated that for life to start you need something called “spontaneous animation,” where a bunch of unalive organic compounds became something more and became alive. We don’t know how this spontaneous animation occurred, and as of yet we have been unable to reproduce it in a lab. The bible states the sun goes around the Earth, but that was disproven completely this century and the church accepted. They have accept the Bible isn’t necessarily true to reality. The Theory of Evolution does not disprove God, if anything it makes it more likely there is one. What caused that initial spark of life? What guides evolution? Darwin was a very religious man; he had trained to be a minister. When he wrote his controversial book, “On the Origins of Species,” he likely did not view it devoid of God. Whether he believed in the idea of a God who not only created but also cares for and sustains the world, or a God who is an unmoved creator who worked entirely through unbroken and unchanging law. That is unclear. What is clear was he was a religious man.

So why can’t the Creationists see their God in Evolution and thus accept Evolution as an acceptable alternative to the words in the Bible? I believe the problem is one of Faith:

The history of Science is not a mere record of isolated discoveries; it is a narrative of the conflict of two contending powers, the expansive force of the human intellect on one side, and the compressing arising from traditionary faith and human interests on the other…Faith is in its nature unchangeable, stationary; Science is in its nature progressive; and eventually a divergence between them, impossible to conceal, must take place. (Gould, S. J. 1996. Dinosaur in a Haystack: Reflections in Natural History. p. 44).

Got your attention, huh? Well, before anyone goes nuts over the title, relax… it’s just a quote from the makers of “Able Edwards.” What is Able Edwards? It is a VERY low budget sci-film that was filmed within 15 days and on a budget of only 30,000. I find this quite amazing. Apple is using this story to of course boast apple computers, because like many movies, a lot was done using apple computers. The movie in itself seem interesting for the sake of it’s production style. It was all shot on green-screen in a tiny little room… the “sets” are scanned images found in a library’s architecture book section. Graphics were done by graduate students of some art school, who seemed to just want to do something with their expensive art school degree. All, in all, seems neat. Read the article and watch the preview.

Ghost in the Shell 2 hit theaters in the US this Friday (2004-09-17). A trailer is available here and the japanese trailer, which is a bit better IMO … no “One Man, One Desire … ” type hollywood voice-over crap, is available here. The US website can be found here.

A couple of new things on the Star Wars Front. First off is a 5-minute talk with Mark Hamill about Star Wars, including some things about episodes 7, 8 and 9, as well as a part about Fox interference (ie: Chewie in pants). Yes I said episodes 7, 8, and 9. According to ain’t it cool, almost all of the crews working on the current trilogy have had their contracts extended to 2012 (more than enough time for three more movies, right?). This suggests something is in the works, but not necessarily another trilogy (I’m thinking it might be related to Indiana Jones 4 which is supposed to start filming in the next year or two, but let’s follow the current rumours shall we). My strongest worry is of Lucas fucking up the books which take place after the battle of Endor (ie: The New Jedi Order series). Why would I think this? Well Peter Mayhew has been signed up to reprise his role as Chewbacca in Episode III, and “his contract also stipulates that he’d be required to appear in Episodes 7, 8, and 9.” [Ain't it Cool's Article above]. If the trilogy was covering the New Jedi Order, he’d be dead in Episode 7. If it’s taking place after the New Jedi Order … he’s already dead so he can’t be there unless Han is having hallucinations and flash backs or Lucas is fucking with the books. The thing is they can’t set it much earlier than the New Jedi Order, ’cause all the actors are getting up there in age … unless of course they aren’t using the original cast … only Chewie. I’ve always thought that the Thrawn Trilogy would have been a great set of books for sequels to the original Star Wars, but it would have required filming in ‘96, not ‘06. Mark Hamill is getting old.

Secondly is the Digital Bits review of the upcoming Star Wars DVD set. It includes comparison stills between the special editions and the new DVD editions. The most important piece of information is that the Han/Greedo scene has had some work. Apparently Han’s entire upper body shifts as Greedo and Han shoot at each other. Greedo’s shot goes right where Han’s head used to be. It redeems Greedo’s skill as an assassin and doesn’t really alter the scene as drastically since they both shot at the same time.

One of the coolest changes is the fixing of the lettering on the tractor beam display. They changed it from English to Aurebesh (Star Wars’ written form of Basic). West End Games were the ones that made Aurebesh usable, but it was in most of the Star Wars movies (albeit unreadable). The earliest form of Aurebesh is believed to be on Tarkin’s display when the Death Star is closing on Yavin IV, but the script “changed”. From an interview with Philip Metschan at starwars.com, it appears someone accidently flipped the language upside down before filming Episode VI (Original Lettering Developed for Star Wars IV is upside down Aurebesh). What WEG based Aurebesh on was the screen shots in Star Wars VI and Episode I & II use WEG’s Aurebesh for their control screen letterings, thus it’s Episode IV which is all messed up. I am kind of hoping they go through all the old movies and fix up all the Aurebesh to actually mean something … Like the Tractor controls.

The Final bit is Star Wars TV! “Lucasfilm’s Jim Ward confirmed that a ‘Star Wars’ TV series is on the way in the near future (though he didn’t say when it would be set).” Rumour mills had originally suggested two: one animated, one live action. Personally, I’d like to see Rogue Squadron (animated or live, I care not) … there is a lot of stuff in there in which to make a TV Series with. Hell even something like Droids would have been fun. Okay, so I’m not picky …

Villagers in a small Indian town of Chang, north-west of Delphi, paid to have a plague of ‘holy’ monkeys executed:

Police inquiries revealed that the killers had been paid to get rid of the monkeys by the inhabitants of Chang, a village 20 miles away. The growing monkey population had become a serious problem there but the villagers could not ask the government to control them because, according to Hindu belief, monkeys are holy to the god Hanuman, and no one would dare to interfere with them. So the frustrated villagers resorted to more drastic measures.

Monkeys roam freely across India, in major cities as well as in the countryside. The animals sitting on Delhi’s grandest buildings regularly make it into tourist snapshots but the monkeys are, in fact, a menace. They have sharp teeth and often bite people, inflicting nasty wounds, even biting noses off. They can carry rabies; they also break into homes, steal food and run riot.

Democracy Now! a U.S. based morning TV and radio news program. One of the more interesting things they covered was the RNC when Sen. John McCain referred to Michael Moore as a “disingenuous filmmaker.” Unbeknown to McCain, Moore was at the convention in a press box. It’s an amusing segment, but the best part was about to come. Completely uninterrupted video sequence of people leaving the convention floor scared me more than I would ever like to admit. People like the three ladies Amy Goodman stopped scare me greatly. I recommend watching the video clip (follow the above link), but I have posted the part that scared me so here.

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Balance the drunken german as he walks. Use your mouse to keep him balance … and do not be distracted by the yodeling.

Saw this on yahoo this am: clips from the movie.

KMFDM is doing their first tour of Canada, “this’ll be KMFDM’s first time in canada since 1997. and even before that we never played anywhere but toronto, and if i remember correctly vancouver once or twice and montreal once.”

It happens they’ll be in Regina before headed out here. Never thought that’d happen. Figures that I’d have moved before it did though. Ah well, they’ll be nearby also, hell I could see the show twice if I really wanted. But you guys get it first.