Techtalk Trivia: What was the only manned space flight mission to take off on Halloween day?

Image via Wikipedia

My latest TechTalk podcast/radio appearance was suitably seasonal: Ep. 248 – Every Day is Halloween!

TOPIC: Mike and Dave get together right before Halloween this year to tell you spooky tech stories … well, maybe not so spooky, but Dave does apologize for his comments about Steve Jobs from a few weeks ago, and an apology from the TechTalk show can seem almost supernatural in it’s rarity. Tablets and a possibly too-long discussion of IVR rounds out the show before …

Jay “Encyclopedia Garmonica” treats us to a totally a propos Halloweeny geek trivia question:

What was the only manned space flight mission to take off on Halloween day?

And that leaves us ample time for some great seasonal coolsites of the week!

• PumpkinPatchesAndMore – Find all the local pumpkin patches in your area! Plus carving templates, recipes, and more.


• HalloweenPrintables – From the great folks at FreePrintables.net, come some cards, puzzles, and coloring pages just in time for Halloween!


• FantasyPumpkins – These are cool to look at all year, and include templates for many of the coolest pumpkins you’ve ever seen!

This week we treat your ears to a speed metal version of the classic “Every Day is Halloween” by Ministry.

Geek Gifts 2011: Star Wars: The Complete Saga Blu-Ray Collection

Geek Gifts 2011: Star Wars: The Complete Saga Blu-Ray Collection: Star Wars fans, do you need The Complete Saga Blu-Ray Collection? Someone paid me to answer that question in this review, which is to say I turned a profit by spending two consecutive Saturdays with a houseful of friends watching a free copy of every Star Wars film on Blu-Ray. Yes, you can hate me now.

Thanksgeeking 2011: 12 things geeks can be thankful for this year

Thanksgeeking 2011: 12 things geeks can be thankful for this year: A dozen or so events, items, and ideas from 2011 for which the geek-o-sphere should give thanks. (Or, at least, MY list of what geeks should be thankful for. Still blows my mind I get paid for this stuff.)

What unlikely outside group forces the Large Hadron Collider to shut down for three weeks every winter?

Image by Image Editor via FlickrThe Large Hadron Collider may be the most influential scientific instrument of the early 21st century, but it still has to play ball with all the various agencies and interest groups that dominate modern life. One of these organizations holds some rather unexpected sway over the LHC -- enough to force the particle accelerator to shut down its atom-smashing for three weeks or more every winter.

Want to know who the mysterious power behind the Higgs Boson throne is? As usual, you've got two ways to found out:

• Geek Trivia: What outside group forces the Large Hadron Collider to shut down every winter? [TEXT]
• Techtalk Radio Episode 242: Every winter the LHC is forced to shut down. Why? [AUDIO]

The former includes some rather awesome counter-theories from TechRepublic's online readership. The latter includes a vivid discussion of the fallout from Google's acquisition of Zagat. Both are worth your time, despite my involvement in each venture.

Related articles

• Large Hadron Collider: There's an App for That (escapistmagazine.com)
• The Higgs boson might explain the origins of the universe and dark energy [Mad Science] (io9.com)
• Why You Shouldn't Fear Science - Even Particle Physics (livescience.com)
• What two movies created by a famous Hollywood geek pushed the PG rating so far that the MPAA created PG-13? (jaygarmon.net)
• How Do You Shut Down the Second Most Powerful Particle Accelerator? [Science] (gizmodo.com)

The most horrible things in science fiction

Image via WikipediaThere are two ways of interpreting the post title:

• A clever pun on mashing the horror and sci-fi genres
• The description of my contribution to SF Signal podcasts

Both are likely true, as those poor, foolish fools at SF Signal had me on their podcast again discussing the best examples of science fiction horror stories. Don't worry, it's not just me blathering about Ridley Scott and David Cronenberg (that happens, but there's other stuff, too). Lee Thomas, Ashley Crump, Derek Johnson, Jeff Patterson, and Patrick Hester make legitimate statements about genre that tend to drown out my own sonic idiocy.

My content will horrify. Their content will edify. Either way you win, assuming horror is of interest to you. Give it a listen.

As always my chronicle of past SF Signal podcast atrocities is available here.