Fire-Fly Fans - New Serenity Model available

Eoghann confirms that if you are a Fire-Fly fan and haven't got a couple of kilobucks to spare on huge models of Serenity then this 1:400th scale model might just be what will keep you happy through the dark months. This newest model is a hair under 100 and is still wonderfully detailed for the modest outlay.

As QMonline puts it: Smaller, But Still Plucky as Ever. As you can see in the pic - not off the mark at all. Qmxonline.com says that this unique item will be available in December of 2011 and if that is not exciting enough....check out some of the product description:

• about 8 inches long – out of dozens of parts, some as small as a millimeter. Her intricate design matches the Firefly TV series version of the ship in every detail: She was created using the show's actual CG files.

Now that is what I call sweet!

Info here

Firefly Novel from Steven Brust!

Hey, I just read over on the IO9 blog that writer Steven Brust, best known for his fantasy/scifi Dragaeran series, has done something that should warm all the fans of Josh Weadon's Firefly hearts. Brust has written a free ebook set in the Firefly universe. And by free I mean Creative Commons free. Down load it, copy it, distribute it, as long as it's NFP, knock yourself out! IO9 contributor Newitz writes that "Brust has done a great job capturing the humor and out-West action feel of the series."

Here is the link to the novel

New Robo-Weapon: Paralyzing Floodlight

The US Army's Aviation Applied Technology Directorate plans to demonstrate the use of a 7.5 million candlepower strobe floodlight system mounted on board an unmanned air vehicle as a non-lethal crowd-control system.

The project will see a Peak Beam Systems searchlight adapted to operate as a strobe capable of inducing physical effects, such as short-term paralysis, in humans.

The system uses a xenon-based searchlight that "can be pulsed with a unique modulation [strobe] effect that results in immobilisation to those within the beam.

But that's not the only flying robot / ray gun combo the U.S. military is examining. The Air Force is also toying with the idea of mounting its Active Denial System pain weapon on a drone, too. Just so the robots can make us feel like we're on fire, before they temporarily blind us.

submitted by Shaun A. Saunders

Day Break ABC's midseason LOST replacement

First off is Day Break science fiction? hummmm Time is screwed up and now police officer Harper is caught in an apparent time loop. Sounds like good sci-fi to me! Wow, when I first heard about Day break .from an ABC blurb that said Day Break was ground hog day with a bit of die hard mixed in. I thought “ Oh yeah fat chance!” But by the third time Harper wakes up into the same day, I was seriously hook. And talk about bringing out the big guns! - car chases, fights, falls, beatings, interrogations, car crashes, thugs, hoodlums, murders, shootouts you name it.. And just who isn't involved!! ABC aims to keep you interested enough to tune in again next week. Can they keep this pell-mell pace up? I doubt it, but I sure will watch next week. click the title to go straight to this weeks episode player online. Some of the notables in the cast are Tayne Diggs plays Harper on the run - wanted for murder that he is being framed for. Diggs as you remember played in Basic, opposite Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta. Adam Baldwin plays Chad Shelten an IAD officer hell bent on getting Harper and may or may not be involved with the shadowy group that is framing Harper. Baldwin has appeared in projects that include HBO's acclaimed miniseries From the Earth to the Moon and is known to the sci-fi world audiences for his starring role on Firefly, recurring roles on The X-Files, Angel and The Visitor, and guest starring roles on Stargate SG-1 and the new The Outer Limits. He followed up his Firefly character once again in Joss Whedon's motion picture, Serenity. Victoria Pratt plays Harper's police partner Andrea Battle. You might remember Pratt from her stint on Fox networks Mutant X where she played Shalimar Fox.