So this morning I pull on to the I-4 on-ramp from Saxon in Orange City, and as I'm getting up to highway speeds I glance to my left just in time to see a sports car — a silver, Corvetty-looking thing — wedged tightly in the trees some 50 feet up the bank. I immediately think two things: I hope no one's hurt, and that would be a cool picture. And then I'm on the highway.

There follows a few miles of mental gymnastics. My two thoughts stay with me for several miles. Did anyone else see that? Have emergency crews been called? Nothing was moving, so either the person(s) involved is out or already gone and the car is still there. Should I go back and make sure? Should I go back and get a picture?

I pulled off at the next exit and went back.

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Need to know where you go, out there in the black? Ben Mund and QMx have got you covered, at least as long as you stick to the New Canaan run.

The New Canaan run is favored by captains flying light- and mid-bulk transports for its diverse markets and exports. And for those who must occasionally live on the raggedy edge, its varied levels of law enforcement are a plus, as well. The route described in the 26 full-color pages of the Atlas spans 11 planetary systems, crossing from The Core through The Border to The Rim and back.

Using the same format as the successful Serenity Blueprints Reference Pack, the Atlas of the Verse includes maps and info about Londinium, Persephone, Beaumonde, Silverhold, Harvest (and Higgins’ Moon), New Canaan (and Lilac), Hera, Shadow, Ariel, Osiris and Sihnon, plus lots of "local color" for each. Learn about the ceramics available from Higgins Industrial, check out satellite maps of Eavesdown Docks, get a copy of the tactical map from the Battle of Serenity Valley and a lot more.

I've been privileged to see this developing over the last 2 years and I can tell you the attention to detail borders on the psychotic (but in a good way). Tons of insider easter eggs hidden among insanely detailed renderings and artwork. Ben has done an awesome job.

Available now for $39.95. 26 pages on 100-pound 12"x16" stock, spiral-bound.

You can get Browncoat money for free, though. As a nice little promotion for the Atlas, QMx is offering a PDF of the scrip paid to Independents during the war. Print all you like!

So I checked the mail today and found a package from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratories. This is not a usual thing for me.

I opened it to find that I had received a small chunk of aerogel as a result of filling out a survey on NASA's new Stardust-NExT website, a new site about our exploration of comets. Answer some questions about the site's usefulness and you might get a prize! I filled it out and forgot about it. Until today.

Aerogel is the lightest solid on earth. That's not hyperbole, it's listed with Guinness. Invented in 1931 to win a bet, it's what you get when you replace the liquid in a gel with a gas, and it's also incredibly strong, extremely resistant to heat, and 1,000 times less dense than glass. NASA uses it to insulate spacecraft (39 times more insulation than fiberglass) and they'll be using it on the Stardust spacecraft to capture comet particles. It's been used for the Mars Pathfinder and other rover missions, and it has a variety of earthbound applications such as skylight insulation, drug delivery, heavy metal absorption from water, and tennis racquets. Also, it's freaking amazing stuff to play with.

It's like it's not there. It's clear and weighs effectively nothing, like solid smoke. On a dark background it glows faintly blue due to the way its honeycomb structure scatters visible light. The edges just fade away to nothingness, it's like looking at a hologram. The accompanying letter explained all the reasons I shouldn't touch it — it would absorb the moisture from my hand, leaving an imprint that can't be removed, any point pressure can scratch or chip it, etc. — but a small chunk had already come off in shipping so I gave that a feel. It's dry to the touch, like brittle old Styrofoam, and it crumbles very easily. You can see the crack mine has through the middle. But it can also handle very high surface loads, bearing 4,000 times its own weight (just don't poke it).

The trickiest thing about aerogel? Photographing it with a digital camera. Try as I might I simply could not get my camera to focus on it, or on anything else if it was in the frame. Something about the way it reflects light confuses the hell out of my poor camera; I had to focus on something the same distance away and then face the aerogel with my finger on the button. So keep in mind that the real stuff looks approximately 20-25% cooler than it does here, you just can't see it.

Now to figure out what to do with it so it won't get messed up. How do you display solid smoke?

Oh, and when NASA asks you to fill out a survey, do it.

OK, not only is QMx offering preorders of their teased Firefly keychain — solid metal, pewter finish — for just $9.95, but if you order one before March 31 you'll get a chance to win a chrome one.

The Firefly Replica Keychain was created using the TV series' special effects files and carefully scaling them down to just over two inches. The keychain is cast in solid metal with a pewter finish and contains an incredible amount of detail – leaving no doubt that when you travel, you do it in Firefly style.

This is the first item QMx has prioduced with their new Firefly license (as opposed to their Serenity license) and it's seriously cool and very affordable.  You're gonna order one anyway, you know it. Might as well get in on a chance for an even shinier one.

Any day QMx will formally announce the upcoming Serenity Atlas, an amazingly beautiful work that shows you everything you wanted to know about traveling the worlds of the 'Verse, and also what Ben Mund's been beating his head out creating for the last two years. They're just waiting for printing and shipping details.

But for now you can get sneak peeks by following Ben Mund on Twitter. He's posting tiny factoids and changing his avatar every day to a new slice of art. So far:

@Qmxinsider Serenity Atlas sneak peek 3: Look closely: you'll see a Tall Card game in the Companion House. Think they play for garbage duty?

@Qmxinsider Serenity Atlas sneak tidbit 2: Eavesdown Docks shot (p7) includes an "Ariel" ship & two darkly dressed men you may recognize …

@Qmxinsider Serenity Atlas sneak tidbit 1: The actual prop peach can River hits Jayne with shows up on p15. Surprisingly, it's undented.

Please note that since he's starting these with @QMxInsider, the QMx Twitter feed, you'll need to follow both Ben and QMxInsider in order to see these tweets in your own feed. Or you can just go to Ben's Twitter page every day.

When the Atlas does get announced, you're gonna want it. I've seen it already and I want it.

DriveThruRPG.com has announced an amazing charity drive: Gamers Helping Haiti. Donate $20 to Haitian relief and get a coupon code for free copies of over 100 different RPG book downloads, including Margaret Weis' award-winning "Serenity."

DriveThruRPG announced a major incentive to the roleplaying gamer community today to incite donations to aid in rescue and recovery in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Called the "Gamers Helping Haiti Bundle," the product includes over a hundred products totaling over $1000.00 in retail value. For a simple donation of $20 – all of which goes to Doctors Without Borders to support their post-earthquake Haiti relief efforts – RPG fans can have this once-in-a-lifetime collection of gaming products.

Click here for more details. This is an incredible deal, and a great way to help out.

As reported last week, based on Jane Espenson's tweet about it, some of the writers from Firefly have been working on original short stories set in the Firefly universe. The writers include Jane, Jose Molina, Ben Edlund, and Brett Matthews, according to various reports.

Jane's story will be a short one, around 2,000 words. In an interview while promoting her new series Caprica, she said, "Oh, I just came up with a very clever little short story that involves Kaylee and Wash, two characters that we haven't seen together that much."

Jose Molina had mentioned his several times on his own Twitter feed: 'Working on my Firefly short story. Assuming Jane has finished and Edlund will write his 6 hours before it’s due."

While Titan Books is still not quite ready to announce it formerly despite Jane's leak ("to be fair, we did not ask her not to!"), they have verified to me that original stories will form part of "Still Flyin: A Celebration of Joss Whedon's Acclaimed TV Series," the third Firefly Companion book coming this spring.

"Still Flyin'" will include 'unseen photos, costume designs, behind the scenes secrets and much more," and if "much more" means new stories by these guys I want it even more now. Titan's previous Firefly Companions (reviews here and here) have been amazing collections of photos and articles with stuff I had never seen before, and it looks like this one will be even cooler.

"Still Flyin: A Celebration of Joss Whedon's Acclaimed TV Series" is scheduled to hit shelves April 27 and you can preorder it from Amazon for $13.46.

As I mentioned here previously, I recently got a somewhat-better camera and wanted to take a little more care of it (meaning, I can't just shove my camera in my pocket anymore). But none of the inexpensive camera bags met my needs and if I wanted one that didn't look like an obvious camera bag, which I did, I'd have to shell out some serious bucks. I, however, am a cheap bastard, so I decided to roll my own.

Supplies:
Messenger bag. I liked the look of this one and it was marked down at Burlington Coat Factory. Price: 20 bucks.
Foam padding. Closed-cell padding is better and thinner — you can find it at some fabric stores or camping supply retailers — but I went with some old packing foam I already had. Price: free.
Duct tape. Price: $3.95 because I splurged on a color roll.
That's it.

Total price: $23.95.

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Since Dollhouse was canceled, in accordance with television logic the shows have been getting better and better. Last week's episode, "Getting Closer," was edge-of-the-seat amazing from start to finish and had me droolingly eager to see tonight's episode, "The Hollow Men." Everything is coming to a head, the characters are finally taking on evil corporation Rossum directly, Echo has undergone some major changes, and it all ends tonight.

Short review: Meh.

Long review after the jump, where spoilers live.

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Having taken over the Internet, The Guild is coming to comics! And you can preorder yours for 20% off from TFAW.com.

Chronicling the hilarious on- and offline lives of a group of Internet role-playing gamers, the Knights of Good, The Guild has become a cult hit and is the winner of numerous awards from SXSW, YouTube, Yahoo, and the Streamys. Now Day brings the wit and heart of the show to this three-issue miniseries. In this origin tale of the Knights of Good, we learn about Cyd's life before joining the guild, how she became Codex, and how she began to meet the other players who would eventually become her teammates. This storyline fills in details never before revealed on the web show, making it a delightful new chapter for existing fans as well as a perfect jumping-on point for new fans!

(Pictured is the Georges Jeanty cover; you can also order the Cary Nord one.)

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With the passing of a show comes the chance for picking up momentoes. FOX is auctioning off Dollhouse props and costumes. Get dresses and shoes from Echo, Bennett and Adele, a suit from Ballard, Adele's tea set, Topher's sneakers, an all-access pass to the Rayna concert from "Stage Fright"… Lots of great stuff from what has become a truly amazing show.

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Finally, we discover what the iPhone was made for: taking Samuel L. Jackson wherever you go.

There have been lots of celebrity apps — Pink, Kevin Smith — but they all shared a similar problem. They talk to you. They tell you just what the celebrity is doing or saying or simply wanting you to know. But with iSamJackson you finally get someone on your side, making you cooler by extension than you ever would be without him.

OK, frankly if this was anyone but Sam Jackson it wouldn't work. But it is, and it does.