perfidy

Trawling through the vast wasteland of the internets, one finds mostly crap. To the point that Sturgeon's law seems wildly optimistic. Every now and again, though, your suffering is rewarded with unalloyed joy. This is one of those times. I found this over at AEBrain, and it is, without exception, the coolest use of Flash animation I have ever seen. (Though Homestar Runner comes close. And this is an addictive close third.)

[wik] I probably put more links in that paragraph above than I have in any in the last year. As a blogger, I should really consider linking more.

[alsø wik] Distracted by the linkiness, I forgot to say why that first link is so damn cool. Though if you clicked it, you'd know already. But I'm about to tell you, so wait a minute. The extrasolar system map is unlike most astronomical doodads you'll find, becasue it's not sol centric. Most star maps simply show what the stars look like from Earth. Which doesn't give you a good idea of how they are connected. A star map is like one of those goofy odd-perspective "the view of the world from New York" maps, that doesn't really provide any useful information. This map actually shows what stars are near each other. And, clicky on a star, and it will show if we have detected any planets in that solar system. Combine this thing with googlemaps and it would be awesome. If it had smooth scrolling between map sections, and a route planning mode with waypoints, it would be the most amazing thing in the world. Also, it would be cool if you could see more than one little bit at a time. Nevertheless, wow. Four thumbs up.

[alsø alsø wik] In light of my last post, I wonder how many of those planets in the nifty star map have ETs waiting to eat us. Most of the stars in that map are within the light cone of our radio broadcasts.

[wi nøt trei a høliday in Sweden this yër?] Broadcasting to a potentially unfriendly galaxy is probably not wise. On the other hand, a sufficiently advanced technology could detect us anyway.