Alex Steffen over at WorldChanging has done an excellent job of listing the tools that enable us to envision (and in some cases embody) the future.

Noah Shachtman of Defense Tech fame has penned an fascinating article for Popular Mechanics about the Pentagon’s weapon systems plans. Many of the most expensive systems seem the least suited for fighting the war on terrorism.

Rattenberg is a little town in Austria tucked in the shadow of a mountain that sees no sun for long months in the winter. Rattenberg will be installing adjustable mirrors to redirect sunlight from a field about a quarter of a mile away into the town.

In yet another example of the continuing Nipponification of the United States please see iPod vending machines. What’s next, hamburgers?

Centauri Dreams has an interesting post about a possible Saturn-like planet in an Earth orbit around 51 Peg.