I’ve been wondering if it’s geeky of me to be reading The New Penguin History of the World.

Then yesterday I got a total thrill hearing that the mummy of Hatshepsut’s been found.

And I didn’t have to wonder anymore.

I have to admire this kind of dedication. Here’s a girl who’s such a big fan of Wonder Woman, and so wants to play her in the upcoming movie, that she made a trailer of it starring herself as the Amazon, as an audition tape.

I still say Jessica Biel.

I’m working towards first playable these days (basically the first major deliverable of a game, where the first level is usually delivered at near-final quality). This weekend I dreamt that my game’s hero had been replaced by the ball from Metroid in my first playable build.

I know it sounds silly, but it was really scary.

I’m terrified to go to sleep.

Last weekend, the Scotsmontonian and I were walking down Whyte avenue in Edmonton when suddenly, something caught my eye in a shop window.

Actually, it wasn’t in the shop window, it was in the shop but I saw it through the window. Actually, it was on the farthest wall of the shop, but I managed to bionically zoom in on it through the window. I couldn’t believe it. It was my long-lost treasure of childhood. Something I’d been dreaming of finding again for the past 26 years: the perfect Wonder Woman costume.

26 years ago, at the tender age of eight, I outgrew the Wonder Woman costume my mom had lovingly made me. I’ve been wanting another one ever since. Lightspeedmom says I waited impatiently (duh) by the sewing machine. All I remember is that it had straps on the bustier, which was incorrect, but mom wisely wouldn’t have it any other way.

I quickly broke my “I’ll-never-do-the-girlfriend-thing-of-making-you-wait-as-I-try-on-clothes” promise to the Scotsmontonian and swiftly dragged him into the shop. Minutes later, the last costume was taken off the mannequin, tried on and bought. I was as happy as when I was seven.

The previous day, Justice League Heroes had come out and the Scotsmontonian purchased it for us. This is a game in which you get to be various superheroes, including Wonder Woman. So I got to play Wonder Woman, dressed like Wonder Woman.

I’ve since returned from Edmonton and have hung the costume among my normal clothes in the closet. There something intensely cool about seeing it hang there, like Diana Prince’s laundry day.

Morals: it doesn’t have to be Halloween to dress up like Wonder Woman, and like the guy says, it’s never too late to have a happy childhood. Again.

I enter the cafeteria this morning, jonesing for my morning shot. There’s a conversation going on already, and a guy I don’t know but have seen around is saying,

“Ugh, I hate superheroes anyway.”

I walk by him and, putting my trusty Wonder Woman mug under the coffee faucet, shoot him an unmistakable “you suck” look.

“What?”

- Well, that’s like saying you don’t like Jews. I mean, what if there are superheroes around, whose daytime identity is to be game developers?

- I’ll take my chances, he smiles. Have a nice day, Wonder Woman.

I get out of work about ten hours later (hey, we’re Beta). The Anti-Supite is impatiently waiting to jaywalk across the busiest street in Montreal, calculating just the right moment to dash between speeding cars. I walk up discreetly behind him.

“You know, if you get hit you’re on your own”.

He waits. Too bad.

Of what use are my woes, if not to amuse my dearest friends?

I find it interesting how some pieces of technology make it into the common vernacular, even though they do not actually exist. Most people know what a light saber, cyborg and a tractor beam are, though nobody’s actually ever used any of them.

One that I’ve been noticing getting more and more use is the electromagnetic pulse, or emp. This is basically a magnetic bomb that takes out all electrical devices in a given radius, whilst being harmless to living creatures. I first saw it being used in The Matrix to kill off the squiggly robots that attacked the heroes’ ship. Then, I thought nothing of using it myself in Ratchet Deadlocked to disable an electrical turret that was giving me grief. In the fourth season of 24, it was used to prevent Jack from hacking into a company’s files. And a few days later I saw it again in Serenity.

It gave me pause to consider; what is it about a piece of imaginary* technology that makes it become ubiquitous? How do you invent technology that is readily acceptable to audiences and other writers?

I think some of the following conditions probably apply:
- Must make physical common sense in the universe in which it exists;
- Must instinctively remind audiences of existing technologies;
- Must be realistic (i.e. have limitations, side effects, etc);
- Must achieve a result that is truly impossible with existing technology;
- Its properties must be easy to grasp - an evocative name, a simple and powerful effect, few extraneous properties. Audiences must know at once what can and cannot be done with this tool or weapon.

What do you think?

* According to my research, EMPs currently exist only as a side effect of nuclear blasts, but the EMP bomb per se, though it is being researched, has not yet been built.

I got this from Martine yesterday…

…after a few coworkers had proudly announced that they voted me Most Geeky for our upcoming end-of-the-year awards. My life holds few distinctions, but this is one I cherish with pride.

Today I learned that the universe is slightly beige. That’s right - if you add up the color of all the light in the universe, you end up with a slight off-white tint (it was originally thought to be greenish white, but the universe is a sort of beige, it turns out).

I wish I could take credit for the latte simile in the title of this post, but Cosmic Latte does seem to be the official name of the universe’s color. Other possible names include Big Bang Beige and Cappuccino Cosmico. Ils sont fous ces astronomes.

Now do I still need to defend my preference for non-fiction literature?

This is just what the title says.

Via the ever-charming Thomas (who, despite all the cutesy rebel X-wing stuff, still works for the Empire).