Story of R32 ~ Vlasenko's Robot Short SF Film...

MissC spots Story of R32 by Vladimir Vlasenko...

Right-to-Die ~ PBS on Euthanasia in Belgium...

PBS NewsHour's Megan Thompson reports on The right to die in Belgium which...

"Has the world’s most liberal law on physician-assisted suicide, which is not just for the terminally ill. Patients with psychiatric conditions -- and now, even children -- can request euthanasia. Surveys in Belgium show overwhelming public support, and many doctors say it gives patients with constant and unbearable suffering a practical and humane way to die peacefully. But even in a country with a far-reaching acceptance, controversy still exists."

R.I.P. Kevin Brooks ~ Storyteller & Adventurer...

Tragic to hear that Kevin Brooks has passed away after fighting a fast, cruel cancer. Media Lab alumnus, storyteller, adventurer, friend, and especially a deeply engaged mentor to next generations, his joie de vivre will be missed but the high bar he set long remembered.

Life After Pi ~ Changing World of VFX & Film...

See here Life After Pi documentary about...

"Rhythm & Hues Studios, the L.A. based Visual Effects company that won an Academy Award for its groundbreaking work on "Life of Pi" -- just two weeks after declaring bankruptcy. The film explores rapidly changing forces impacting the global VFX community and the Film Industry as a whole."

R.I.P. Madiba ~ Alas Nelson Mandela is Gone...

Sad to hear South Africa's Nelson Mandela has passed away.

Qumquat Killed ~ Poachers Slaughter Elephants

NYTimes DotEarthling Andrew Revkin shares the sad news that Africa’s Ivory-Driven Elephant Slaughter Continues -- A Family Falls...

"Qumquat, one of the best-known matriarchs in the elephant population of the Amboseli ecosystem on the Kenya-Tanzania border, was photographed with her family on October 27 by Nick Brandt. Just 24 hours later, the old female and most of the others were gunned down by poachers."

R.I.P. Neil Armstrong ~ The First Man on Moon...

Sad word just arrived and his family shares that 82 year old Neil Armstrong has passed away. He was commander of the Apollo 11 lunar mission and the first human to walk on the Moon's surface on July 20, 1969. In Armstrong's own immortal words...

"That's one small step for man,
one giant leap for mankind."

Watch the "giant leap" as it happened (thanks Andrew Revkin)...

Iconic newsman Walter Cronkite reported the landing... And here's historic retrospective on this epic human achievement...

"With computer alarms sounding and fuel running low, Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed their lunar module Eagle in the Sea of Tranquility as millions around the world watched. Six hours later, Armstrong made his "giant leap for mankind", stepping onto the surface of the moon. He was soon joined by Buzz Aldrin, who described the scene as "magnificent desolation". They explored the surface for two and a half hours, collection samples and taking photographs. After their historic moonwalk, they successfully docked with the command module Columbia, reuniting with crewmate Michael Collins."

The Armstrong family says...

"For those who may ask what they can do to honor Neil, we have a simple request. Honor his example of service, accomplishment and modesty, and the next time you walk outside on a clear night and see the moon smiling down at you, think of Neil Armstrong and give him a wink.”

Indeed, left behind on the Moon is the ultimate epitaph...

Dark Girls ~ Docu on Skin Color Biases...

Thanks to CNN's Roland Martin for spotlighting the Dark Girls documentary, writing...

"...there is another critical discussion that must be had, and that is the belief that the lighter skinned you are, the better your life will be. The effects of this mindset are examined in the documentary "Dark Girls," produced by actor/director Bill Duke and directed by Chan Berry. "Dark Girls" explores the pain that is associated with having dark skin, even re-creating the white doll-black doll studies made famous by Dr. Kenneth Clark"

Abort Censors ~ Ridiculing Religious Wingnuts...

Unwise newspaper editors are effectively censoring socio-political cartoon Doonesbury for a series of strips ridiculing those who seek to deny fundamental human rights to women. This censorship is so infernally despicable you'd think it was the work of the Devil himself, but of course that mystical viper doesn't really exist. Unfortunately misguided people do. Therefore, witness here the comic scathing of these idiots...

Killed by Incompetence ~ Latest MIT Death...

Very sad to hear MIT alumnus Phyo Kyaw was slaughtered Tuesday 12/27/2011 by a criminally careless truck driver while riding his bicycle at Mass Ave and Vassar. While this death is quite tragic -- and ought to be a capital case against the truck driver and a bankrupting civil case against the liable owner -- it's also a direct consequence of gross incompetence and complete safety neglect on the part of urban planners, traffic engineers, lawless drivers, absent or uncaring police, AWOL lawmakers, and for those rare court cases, spineless judges. Specifically, we have in Cambridge and Massachusetts today...

• Unsafe and totally inadequate bicycle lanes;
• Hazardous & poorly designed intersections;
  
• Unenforced speeding, red light, & cross-walk rules;
• Minimalist punishment of traffic & safety violations;
• Total absence of driver safety culture;
• Rampant road-rage & driving-while-distracted;
• Missing traffic intersection video recording & tracking;
• Inadequately strict driver-fault liability rules;
• Too few indictments, scarce convictions, & liberal sentences;
  
• And more.

In a just world, those directly and indirectly responsible would all be held criminally culpable for this death -- and for the many other related and entirely avoidable safety incidents between motor vehicles and the bicyclists and pedestrians they threaten daily. Let's look at the evidence: the photos show the murder victim's bike is crushed under the wheels of the JP Noonan-owned truck which is completely on the wrong side of the road. That driver should get the electric chair and yet the latest press reports indicate he's not even being charged. Even worse, an MIT campus policeman told me yesterday -- with a completely straight face, mind you -- that the word is "the bicyclist just ran into the truck" and that's why he died. So this vicious murder by means of criminally negligent and reckless driving is actually either an unfortunate "accident" or it's really the victim's own fault. Are you F#CKing kidding me?! This is completely appalling.

R.I.P. Christopher Hitchens ~ Silenced By Cancer

Terrible to hear iconoclastic oracle Christopher Hitchens has been consumed by his cancer. Never one to hold back or engage in half-measures, Hitchens was fighting life's scourges -- social, political, philosophical, and biological -- till the last possible moments. Writes Juli Weiner in Vanity Fair...

"At the end, Hitchens was more engaged, relentless, hilarious, observant, and intelligent than just about everyone else -- just as he had been for the last four decades. “My chief consolation in this year of living dyingly has been the presence of friends,” he wrote in the June 2011 issue. He died in their presence, too, at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. May his 62 years of living, well, so livingly console the many of us who will miss him dearly."

CH's brother Peter remembers him in the DailyMail and salutes his courage. See here VF's pointer to all CH's appearances with Jon Stewart on the DailyShow. The Guardian summarizes CH's best bon mots. Here's CH's last interview with Richard Dawkins in the New Statesman. And thanks to Cynical-C for spotting Best of Hitchslap clips...

Pest Control ~ New York Takes Out The Trash...

When the rats and cockroaches and other pests "occupying" civilized humanity exceed reasonable thresholds, then Take Out The Trash...

Death to Dictators ~ Q'Daffy Tastes Own Medicine

Q'Daffy's dead. Good riddance. Now how about Assad, Mugabe, Chavez, Kim, Castro, Khamanei and the rest of the verminous swine? See here the bastard caught, courtesy DailyMail... Slain. And that's a good thing. Lockerbie avenged, among others...

Occupier Humor ~ Idiots, But With a Sense of...

Yes, they're idiotic anarcho-socialists, but the Occupiers do have a sense of humor...

Students vs Prisoners ~ MI Backwards Priorities

Randy at Cool Infographics shares the stupidly backwards priorities of Michigan which coddles prisoners while ignoring students...

Canal du Midi ~ Fighting Ecological Trauma...

The Guardian's Angelique Chrisafis writes French to say au revoir to canalside trees. They must chop down thousands of trees alongside the Canal du Midi as...

"An unstoppable fungal disease has left the French state no choice but to reach for the chainsaw, bringing down the ceiling of leaves covering the nation's most romantic waterway. The felling of these 200-year-old trees is seen as a national tragedy. Cyclists, walkers and canal-boat owners are gutted, and local politicians are panicked that the canal's Unesco heritage status will be revoked, wrecking tourism."

The Canal du Midi is a centuries-old, 240 km long southern French transport route helping link Atlantic and Mediterranean. An epic infrastructure and logistics "gigaproject" in the 17th century, today the canal is a beautiful and much-loved waterway for vacationers.

"I Want More Time" ~ Thai Father's Day Promo...

Miss Cellania spots really touching Thai Life Insurance promo -- "I Want More Time" -- which is especially relevant for Father's Day...

Flame Out ~ Sad To See the Death of the Light

Flame out. Perhaps the saddest thing ever. Death sucks.