July 2014

Scissors Cut Paper Wrap Stone by Ian McDonald (Italian edition)

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The novel “Scissors Cut Paper Wrap Stone” by Ian McDonald was published for the first time in 1994.

Ethan Ring is a graphic design expert who helped invent the fracters, a technology with an extremely dangerous potential. Forced to use it for destructive purposes by a European secret agency, after years guilt overwhelms him. His only hope of redemption is to start a Shikoku pilgrimage.

Together with his friend Masahiko, Ethan travels through the pitfalls of a Japan fell into a new form of feudalism. Akira bands, mercenaries paid by local lords and private agencies, control the territory. Another danger is made up of anime downloaded into virtual reality databases.

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After several attempts, the project team ISEE-3 Reboot announced that it managed to run the thrusters of the ISEE-3 (International Sun / Earth Explorer 3) space probe, also known as ICE (International Cometary Explorer). On July 2, the team was able to activate the thrusters but then they gave no other signs of life. After several days of trying to identify the problem, this probe now 36 years old seems to really go back to being operational.

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The two van Allen twin space probes, known originally as the Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP), are about to complete their two-year primary mission, as they were launched on August 30, 2012. They’re still collecting data in the Van Allen radiation belts, two rings – one internal and one external – of electrically charged particles created by the Earth’s magnetic field around the equator. An article just published on line and then on paper in “Physical Review Letters” illustrates the mechanism of electron acceleration in the Van Allen belts.

Henry Warren "Hank" Hartsfield, Jr. in an official picture as an astronaut (Photo NASA)

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The former American astronaut Hank Hartsfield passed away yesterday, July 17, 2014, due to complications from the back surgery he had several months ago. Hank Hartsfield flew on the Space Shuttle Columbia in the STS-4 mission, on the Space Shuttle Discovery on the STS-41-D mission and on the Space Shuttle Challenger in the STS-61-A mission.

J. Michael Straczynski in 2008 (Photo jms)

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The American producer, screenwriter and comic writer Joseph Michael Straczynski was born on July 17, 1954 in Paterson, New Jersey, USA. He’s particularly famous for creating the TV show “Babylon 5”, of which he wrote most of the scripts. As a comic writer, he wrote a lot of issues of “The Amazing Spider-Man” but also of other series, often connected to other superheroes.