The Washington Post writes about the large battles in recent movies like Return of the King and Master and Commander. They\’ve become popular recently because CGI\’s advanced to where it\’s fairly easy to stage massive battles.
[ From BrainLog ]

Geez, someone made a website about a rumor. Hell, in about 17 hours the site might be shut down.

This site has an incredibly detailed, annotated guide to Star Wars Episode 4. He points out all the little things in the background you might\’ve missed, compares scenes between the original and Special Editions, he even has the names of the extras.
[ From Boing Boing ]

An artist in Oakland created a Burning Man Model for Microsoft Flight Simulator. It\’s a recreation of Black Rock City in pixels and bits and it includes the main camp, art pieces, and the Man himself. People can also create their own models for inclusion in the project. Unfortunately, though, you can\’t crash a plane into it.
[ From Boing Boing ]

NASA released some of the first black and white images from the Spirit Mars rover. This page arranges them into stereo image pairs (the kind you cross your eyes to look at). I dunno, some of those pictures look like they could be Kansas or some other flat Midwest state. They should use the Spirit rover to go find the Beagle lander.
[ From Slashdot ]

The Gimli Glider, a gripping account of a 767 gliding to a landing. It was completely out of fuel, no power, and just barely enough hydraulic power for the control surfaces.
[ From Beyond Brilliance, Beyond Stupidity ]

And for my first post of 2004, something I found on my hard drive: the scanned graphic novel version of William Gibson\’s seminal Neuromancer. I can\’t remember where I got it from. Hell, I don\’t even remember if I\’ve mentioned it before. Anyway, it\’s only the first 1/3 of the novel, and I think they never finished the comic. You can use your imagination for the rest.