New social things!

Hi folks,

Just wanted to tell both of my loyal readers about the new toolbar that's sprung up across the bottom of this page. The idea is that it'll help you to do certain things on the site more easily as well as (hopefully) encouraging a bit more of a social atmosphere while you're at it. Please take a couple of minutes to look through the following and find out what each bit does. Or just play with it.

From left to right, the toolbar currently* has these buttons:

• Recent posts: What it says on the tin- it provides quick links to my last however-many posts.
• Real time stats: Click this to find out how many people are on the site right now. You can also find out other stats if you feel like exploring this feature.
• Random posts: Click this to be taken to a random post in TeaKay's Blog.
• TeaKay's Blog: A selection of links to different categories within TeaKay's Blog. Let me know if you'd like any other categories added (you can see tags in the word cloud in the right-hand sidebar of the blog).
• Blogstronomy: A selection of links to different categories within my astronomy blog, Blogstronomy. Again, feel free to suggest additions to this list.
• Subscribe: Use this button to subscribe to my RSS feed in whichever reader you use.
• Share: If you like what you're seeing, this menu will allow you to share it via a number of popular link-sharing services, including Digg, Stumbleupon, Facebook, Twitter and Delicious.
• Join Community: If you have Facebook, you can use those details to log in to the TeaKay's Blog/ Blogstronomy community and communicate with other readers. Please give it a shot; I'd love to see if it works! Your Facebook credentials are absolutely safe.
• Twitter: See my tweets and post tweets about what you're reading directly from the site.
• Join Chat: Chat with anyone else who's browsing either TeaKay's Blog or Blogstronomy and is logged in to chat. You can log in using your Facebook, Twitter or Tinychat credentials (again, these are all perfectly safe).

Please play around with the toolbar and let me know what you think and/or if there's anything you think I should look into adding to it.

* I can add, remove and change all of them, so if they're not in the same place when you come to look at this page, that's why. I'm open to suggestions as well, so feel free to comment.

Your Horoscope with our resident Astrologer, Madame Teakay: Pisces (February 20 - March 20)

Pisces - February 20 - March 20

The escapist in you really wants to do some escaping this month, but it's not sure where to or how. Maybe finding the key to your own internal padlock is the first subquest in your search for fulfilment. A friend and colleague needs you right now; it's time to pay back the loyalty that they've shown you so consistently for so long: they'll appreciate it, and the giving is it's own reward. Work may be getting you down, but your very nature restricts you from getting it off your chest, even with those you are close to. A night out on the tiles is in order, though be careful not to drink like the fish you are or else you'll find yourself swimming in circles. You're artistic and sensitive, but can't spell for toffee, so get a mate to proofread that application from before you send it off next Monday. Whatever happens from now until mid-March, just remember this: Don't pick the blue one.

• Lucky Goldeneye weapon: Remote mine
• Unlucky fashion accessory: Burberry handbag
• Look out for: Pareidolia

The A-Team movie (2010) trailer and comments

Without too much preamble, here's the trailer for the new A-Team. I'll talk about it a bit afterwards.

First thoughts? It looks like it'll be in much the same vein as the original TV series, but with bigger explosions and shinier effects. All of that is a good thing. The premise of the film appears to stay true to the premise of the TV show, and the characters, although difficult to discern from a single trailer, appear to pay fairly close homage to the originals. The most important cast member, the van, appears to be indistinguishable from the original. Phew! If you haven't seen any of the original series, here's a taster of what you're missing:

The IMDB The A-Team (2010) page lists the UK release date as being 30^th July 2010, which isn't bad considering how long this has been in the pipeline!

Other interesting things worth mentioning: The IMDB page's cast list includes Dirk Benedict (the original* Faceman) and Dwight Schultz (the original Murdock), but it doesn't say who they're playing! I'm assuming cameo roles, then! Apparently Mr T. (the original BA) was offered one too, but turned it down**. The original Hannibal, George Peppard, died in 1994. Also, this has been quoted to be the "Die Hard/Bourne Identity/Casino Royale" version of the A-Team, meaning that the violence will be turned up a notch, and people will die (only two characters were killed in the original series' five-season run).





* Actually, this isn't quite true. The absolute original Faceman was played by Tim Dunigan, but he was only in the role for one episode: the pilot entitled Mexican Slayride.
** Presumably because he's too busy doing this:

And this...

New Doctor Who Trailer!

Sorry for two posts in one day, but I've just watched this and want to share it with you:

Daleks! Weeping Angels! And, at the risk of being labelled a misogynist: Amy Pond! Phwoooar.

Star Wars is real!

Star Wars is real. It's our future, and we're starting to work our way into that future already. Proof? o.k:

On 8th February of this year, the ESA-built module "Cupola" was launched into space and fixed into place as part of the International Space Station (ISS)*. From the outside, it looks like this (that cheeky monkey in both pics is NASA mission specialist Nicholas Patrick):

From the inside it looks like this (that cheeky land feature is the Sahara Desert):

Does that remind you of anything? This is the view from a Tie Fighter cockpit (not sure which cheeky monkey is the poor sap about to be blown-up roughly from behind in the X-Wing):

Woah**. The future is here.

As if these pictures aren't proof enough that we are thundering towards our own future, and that it's Star Wars shaped, how's this for a deal-clincher? Mimas is one of Saturn's moons, discovered in 1789 by William Herschel, but not properly imaged until Cassini got there in 2005 and took this:

http://bit.ly/c8sEJM

Remind you of anything? No? Well how about this:

http://bit.ly/a4cJFT

And no, the Death Star wasn't based on images of Mimas: Herschel Crater (that bloody great dent in Mimas- the 'main weapon') hadn't been discovered by the time Star Wars was made.

As always, if you're interested in any astronomy or space-related stuff, get yourself over to Blogstronomy, have a look round, and maybe even ask a question (please ask a question- that's what makes it work).

* Cupola's role will centre around allowing a better view (and therefore better control) of the ISS remote manipulator system and external viewing of Earth. If you'd like to know more about this or any other issue in astronomy, head over to Blogstronomy and ask me a question there!
** Expression of amazement copyrighted to Keanu Reeves.