Yes, more space talk. Starchaser Industries is working to make those of us who dream of space flight a reality. Well, semi-reality, but they are hoping to offer a trip to space at a cost of roughly $200,000. Not exactly spare change but much less than $25 million. This description from Starchaser gives me chill bumps:

When you launch with Starchaser you’ll have the Experience of a true Astronaut.

• Outfitted in an authentic spacesuit you’ll head down the access ramp toward the Starchaser rocket, as clouds of vaporizing LOX shroud the launch pad.
• You’ll climb into the capsule and be strapped securely into your seat to wait for the action to start.
• The dramatic countdown will begin, filling your mind and body with anticipation.
• As you hear the roar of engines coming to life, the rocket propels you upwards with a kick.
• Your body becomes one with the vibration of the rocket as it accelerates, quickly breaking the sound barrier and beyond.
• You’ll be pushed back into your seat and feel the awesome power within every fiber of your being.
• The rocket engines shut down and everything will go silent.
• Coasting silently upward you’ll feel a slight jolt as the capsule separates from the booster.
• And as you look out of the porthole and see the Earth below… you will know that you have achieved your dream…

Yes, I would totally spend $200,000 for a sub-orbital space flight. Wouldn’t you? Eh, we can dream, right?

Crestock.com held a photoshop contest, the winner won a MacBook Pro. I wish I happened upon this in the beginning, not that my photoshop skills would have gotten me very far but I do love photoshopping. Check out the breath-taking creations. The one pictured on the left was the winner of the MacBook Pro.

A system known as 3C321 contains two galaxies that orbit around each other. Each of them has a super massive black hole in the center of them. The larger galaxy has a jet emanating from the vicinity of its black hole and the smaller galaxy apparently fell into the path of this jet, obliterating and likely any planets that reside it in.

They’ve dubbed this galaxy the Death Star galaxy, paying homage to Star Wars. The Death Star in Star Wars was a battle station capable of destroying planets by superlaser (But you know this :P). Poor Alderaan.

Check out the photos of the Death Star galaxy, they’re some of the most beautiful displays of cosmic violence I’ve ever seen.

My blog is back, unfortunately, missing the past two years of entries. Which, in my opinion, were probably the most interesting of the total six years I’ve invested into this site. I think it’s safe to say that this past July and the months following were pretty much the most difficult times of my life. In addition to my catastrophic personal life taking an unexpected nose-dive into oblivion, I had the privilege of God himself destroying what little of my life that remained, materialistically speaking.

With one stroke of lightning I managed to lose the following:

• TV
• DVD Player
• Nintendo WII
• Wired Router
• Wireless AP
• Mac Mini NIC
• Server NIC
• Desktop NIC
• Server Hard Drive
• Cable Modem

And yes, I use surge protectors and battery-backups. This is Murphy’s Law in full effect, folks. I got the Wii replaced, as it was still under warranty, everything else was either without warranty or literally had just expired the week before. Yeah, no kidding.

Looking at that list, I’m rather humbled by the loss, had this electronic disaster happened in..say, June, I probably would have been completely devastated, as everything in that list completely ruled my entire existence to an extent. I devoted so much of my time and passion into computers, web design, etc., that I neglected so many other precious things in my life that deserved my time, attention, and passion. I honestly never realized how consumed I was with all these “hobbies”. Too little, too late, as they say.

So that list, it’s not much of a loss, it was more of an eye-opening, reality check for me. My forced trip into technophile rehab, if you will. Everything on that list is replaceable, it’s what I neglected in my obsession with all of those items that’s irreplaceable. Unfortunately, the past is the only thing that I can not change. Not to say that my addiction to technology is the root of all of my flaws or the catalyst for everything else that failed to work in my life recently, but it had a role. What it comes down to, I guess, is sometimes you need to unplug for a while.

Also, if a computer gets a little sluggish, maybe unresponsive, you don’t have to throw it out and replace it, sometimes a good reboot is all you really need.

I think it’s time to end this entry, as I’m using computers metaphorically now to describe my own personal dilemmas.

An article on Wikipedia lists locations of satellite images that are censored on Google Maps. It also includes links for the coordinates to be viewed in Google Maps. Some of these locations are concealed for obvious reasons, being military related. Interesting, nonetheless.

I might be dropping Who Needs Oxygen.net in place of a new name. I impulsively purchased two new domains the other day, but I’m still feeling a bit indecisive. My two new choices for my blog title and domain are: alpha-geek.net or ilovetheinternets.com. AlphaGeek.whatever is taken in almost every variation you can think of, fortunately, no active blogs under those domains, so I grabbed alpha-geek.net. I bought iLovetheInternets.com because, well, because it’s just funny.

I’m leaning more towards alpha-geek.net, but I don’t know. I’m still going to keep whoneedsoxygen.net, but it will no longer be my blog’s name. I just can’t decide…

Here are some of my favorite Google Maps Mash-ups for this week:

A World of Nirvana! This is awesome! Combining YouTube videos and Google Maps, you can revisit the journey of Nirvana from 1987 to 1994.

Who Is Sick - Keep track of colds, the flu, and other ailments in your city. This came in handy, since I caught a cold this week. I thought I was the only weirdo with a cold in Spring. As it turns out, there are other weirdos with colds in Spring.

Health Map - The common cold can be a little boring. Here’s a map keeping track of diseases, globally. I no longer feel weird about my cold in spring. I mean, I could have Dysentery in Spring. (Not safe for hypochondriacs)

Hotspotr - Find wi-fi hotspots in your area. You can view rate each listing for things such as wireless quality, food, outlet availability, etc.

US Incident Map - This map displays recent incidents involving police, highway patrol, etc. You can view right down to your local zip.

When it comes to keeping comments and conversations going, every weblog is different. Some reply through e-mail, others reply on the post, and some do both. I usually do the latter. But keeping track of all those conversations can be a pain.

I think I have finally found a solution to keep track of all the blog posts I’m commenting on. I came across co.mments today and thought I’d give that a try. Using the bookmarklet, Co.mments will bookmark the posts you want to keep track of and keeps tabs on any new comments that get posted. You can keep track of your posts by subscribing to your RSS feed, visiting your public page on the web, or you can choose to receive an e-mail notification when someone has posted a new comment. You can also add your tracking list to your blog so others can see where else your chatting.

The USPS transformed some of their blue mailboxes into R2-D2 across several cities, to promote up and coming Star Wars stamps, and Tampa happened to be one of the locations. So here’s my picture of the droid, we found R2 downtown today at the corner of Kennedy and Pierce. The force is strong with Danielle, as she spotted the mailbox from miles away.