Ron Miller's discussions

I used to think so, too, but it turns out that methane is odorless. Read more

Sunlight on the surface ofTitan is about 1000 times less than here on the earth...but that is still 350 times brighter than a full moon. To the naked eye, the scenes would look about as shown. The real liberty was making Saturn as visible as I've done...but I figured that maybe the clouds get a little thin in places… Read more

Dammit. Here I am busily taking notes for a new painting when I get to the two updates... Read more

Any reader of vintage SF can answer this! See Doyle's "The Horror of the Heights" or Page's "The Air Serpent" just for starters. And while you're at it, check out this dude's ideas: http://karlshuker.blogspot.com/2011/12/sky-beasts-not-space-craft-unmasking.html Read more

That faint tangential line near the base of the geyser plumes is the shadow of Enceladus!

The effects, created by Ned Mann, involved the construction of a huge scale model of NY. The buildings were thin plaster shells (accounting for the strange way in which they crumble during the earthquake and flood). I've seen the entire film and, except for a startlingly sexy Peggy Shannon, the earthquake is by far…

It is kind of hard to believe that this is the first time something like this has happened regarding Vobile. Read more

Copyright law didn't prevent the broadcast. It was UStream that did. Read more

You're absolutely right. Read more

You are right: It should have been based on a complaint from the copyright owner. It should not have been made on the owner's behalf without their knowledge or consent. Read more

There's already a very good way to protect copyrights. The USCO does a fine job. Where it all goes wrong is when you get bozos like UStream who are more interested in protecting their own asses than they are in protecting copyrights. Read more

Just to make myself clearer: UStream was not "enforcing copyright"...it was enforcing its own idiosyncratic rules. Read more

"In case anyone still believes that copyright rules can't stop free speech or snuff out a community, the automated censorship of the Hugo Awards is a case in point." Well, it actually wasn't copyright rules (if by that you mean copyright law) that stopped the broadcast, it was UStream's own paranoid rules and… Read more

Congratulations, Charlie!!!! Read more

Orion the hunter and Mars, among the many other Greek and Roman gods and heroes, were of course always "played by men". The problem is is that few if any were depicted within their astronomical context. This isn't to say they never were, however. I shall have to see if I can find a few examples. Read more

"Aniara" is on the flip side of an album of the music from "2001" that was available in the late 60s (and I still have it!). "Aniara" is very, very cool! Read more

You are in the right here, Matthew. The existence of substantial seas of liquid water beneath the icy crusts of Europa and Enceladus is pretty much a sure thing. Read more

I would think that the Apollo astronauts who walked on the moon would have a fair idea of what it would be like to move around under Martian gravity. Gravity on the moon is about 1/6 that of earth and Mars' is about 1/3. Read more

I haven't seen the list of the worst yet, but one of the best (albeit in a very otherwise iffy movie) was portrayed in "Conquest of Space" (1955). Mars is shown from orbit as being cratered and possessing shield volcanoes. The surface is depicted as being covered in red sand and dust, with dark rocks scattered… Read more

Well, what do you mean by "what life would be like?" Martian life? If so, then I recall that "Robinson Crusoe on Mars" had some kelp-like (i.e. algae) plants existing in underground water sources. Read more