From the “We’re living in the Future!” department comes news of a wild new “liquid armor” that could supplement or even replace the conventional Kevlar vests used by soldiers, law-enforcement officers, and anti-government wackos. At the very least, it could protect the unarmored limbs that kids are currently losing in Iraq:

“We can make thin layers of material for use on the arms and legs that remain flexible under normal motion, but become rigid and absorb energy when impacted by a ballistic threat or a knife,” [researcher Norman] Wagner says.

Cool, cool stuff. Of course, science-fiction writers came up with this idea a long time ago, so this is really only a case of life imitating art… which brings me back to my usual question: where is my Skywalker-style speeder bike, anyhow?

All right, it looks like we’re going to give Andrew Sullivan a run for his money on this “view from the window” thing. We’ve just received some pics from Chenopup, taken from his home office:

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Continuing with this whole “view from the window” motif, here’s the awe-inspiring urban vista I can see from the Proofreaders’ Cave, located high atop one of the glorious metropolitan skyscrapers in fabulous downtown Salt Lake City:

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You may recall that last week when I posted up the photo of what I can see from my home office, I invited others to share their views as well. The Girlfriend has decided she wants a piece of that action, so here’s what Anne can see from her apartment:

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As amusing as it was to learn of the former Captain Picard’s fascination with female cinematic nudity, I find that I’m still looking for a reason not to re-create the famous stunt from The Poseidon Adventure (the original one, natch) by hurling myself out my office window and onto the skylight of the nightclub down below. I think I need some heavier ammunition to knock me out of my current funk… I need… the power of The Shat!

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I don’t know about you kids, but I’ve had a bad week. One of those butt-kicking, every-day-I-hit-the-ground-running, too-much-to-do-and-not-enough-time-to-do-it-in, my-pointy-haired-boss-is-talking-again-why-won’t-he-just-shut-up! kind of weeks. A big, long, five-day gruel-fest of petty annoyances and mounting frustrations that has me thinking that maybe, just maybe, it was a bad idea for that primordial ooze to start assembling itself into proteins in the first place. In other words, I’m totally knackered.
So what do I need at the end of a week that has seen me gobbling Excedrin by the fist-full? If you said, “Irish whiskey,” well, yes, of course, you’re right, but I am still at work, so I’d better hold off on that option until later. In the meantime, how about a video clip of respected, dignified Shakespearean actor (and TV and movie star) Patrick Stewart telling an aspiring writer all about his own screenplay, a vanity piece about a man with the psychic ability to remove women’s clothes? Ah, yes, that’ll do nicely…

For some reason, YouTube won’t allow me to embed this clip here at Simple Tricks, so you’ll have to click the link above and go watch it elsewhere. Or, if that’s too much trouble, you could click this one. Trust me, it’s worth the effort…

In a comment on the previous entry, Cranky Robert asked if all you folks out there in InternetLand “could get a shot of the newly refurbished Bennion Scriptorium.” Well, it just so happens that I have such a shot handy at the moment:

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