uman efforts to explore space have created a rich and compelling history, one that is made complex not only by its tales of human courage and ingenuity, but by its extensive technical lore. Rocket specifications, launch histories, failed experiments and new achievements all form part of this exciting story, making for an intimidating body of data. How can someone new to the topic hope to sort through it all?
The answer is to let the Encyclopedia Astronautica do all the work. An exhaustive compendium of data on space-exploration efforts worldwide, it contains everything a researcher could want: astronaut biographies, comprehensive listings of spacecraft, a timeline of discoveries, flights
and records set by explorers—even inventories of ship payloads for most spaceflights.
The challenge for any site containing so much data, of course, is in making it accessible to users. To that end, Encyclopedia Astronautica has a search feature, as well as an alphabetic listing of topics. It doesn't stop there, though, offering specialized indexes on rocketry, space programs
and astronauts. Finally, its chronology goes back as far as 1911, and has a "This Day in Space History" feature that lets users track events on particular dates of interest.
While it does have a decent number of pictures, Encyclopedia Astronautica is a largely text-based site, with fewer images than a visitor might expect. The best place to see photographs is within the feature articles, which cover topics like superguns, an account of a Soviet Star Wars program, devices built by rocketry pioneer Robert H. Goddard and a listing of space missions that never went forward. These articles are laid out with a selection of relevant images and are cross-linked to other entries within the encyclopedia.
Finally—for anyone who isn't sated by the reams of information provided on this terrific site—the page offers links to late-breaking news stories and a number of recommended books.
— A.M. Dellamonica
Site of the Week—July 15, 2002
oda once said, "Always in motion is the future." It's a sentiment Projections takes to heart, as it rates Hollywood's efforts to predict what tomorrow might bring.
Movies are judged on three criteria: futurism (how complete, coherent or innovative a future is), entertainment (how much the reviewer liked the film) and plausibility (how likely it is that the film's future will come to pass). All of the site's nearly 100 films are rated on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the best, and many have write-ups expounding on their virtues (or lack thereof). In addition to being sorted by ratings, films are also grouped by more than two dozen topics, including cybernetics, antigravity and the ever-popular flying cars.
The site's creator, Josh Calder, is a futurist by trade and works for a consulting firm in Washington D.C. His marks are generally right on—Gattaca and Blade Runner dominate the "futurism" category
while Aliens, Terminator and Star Wars top the "entertainment" list. The "plausibility" section may cause more
arguments: while Deep Impact makes a convincing case for a comet hitting the Earth, is Close Encounters of the Third Kind really as plausible as Contact?
Projections augments its offerings with a page of Web links dedicated to the study of futurism, as well as a few notes speculating on topics such as space travel, cloning and alien life. Fans of early 20th century science-fiction films might be disappointed by the site's post-Star Wars focus, but overall it gives an effective view of the future as seen through Hollywood's lenses.
— Kenneth Newquist
Site of the Week—July 8, 2002
here exist certain parodies that are so lovingly done, so perfect in execution, that they instantly supersede whatever "real" object they were modeled on, and become in and of themselves the new dominant reality. Such a creation is Villain Supply.com. This site, devoted to all things super-villainous, is so flawless in its presentation—and so damn funny—that you will instantly be converted to its zany worldview.
The premise of the site is simple: Here is a single source for all villains to acquire the tools of their trade. Whether you're a simple henchman looking for a small sap ($4.95) or a mad scientist seeking a Doomsday Star Satellite System ($1,200,000,000), this site has the goods for you. Store them in your cheapo Budget Lair with Mini-Dome ($4,999) or your Subterranean Island Base with Optional Volcano Upgrade ($999,999,999.99), and then get busy threatening and extorting world leaders.
The text that accompanies each catalog item is extremely witty, pitch-perfect in its mix of hucksterism and megalomania. For instance: "DON'T USE A BIGGER WEAPON THAN NECESSARY. I remember when my friend, Son of Mole Man, tried to destroy the Chrysler Building with his moon-based Magma Ray. Of course, the League of Propriety stopped him, because he spent so much time trying to perfect the Magma Ray. He'd forgotten that a few well-placed C4 charges, or one small briefcase nuke, would have done the trick!" The thumbnails of each item are brilliant as well. (Some, such as the trapdoor illo, utilize clever animation.) Click on the traditional "Add to cart" link, and you go to a checkout page which explains why the purchasing option is temporarily down (interference from do-gooders, natch). But don't worry: There's an active link to bring you to Sears as a fallback option! Other links from the main page allow you to shop on Amazon for villain-related books; to contact your Evil Realtor; and to participate in a Supervillain Forum, among other nefarious choices.
With the third Austin Powers movie brightening summer movie screens, this URL should be flashed subliminally during every showing!
— Paul Di Filippo
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