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The Hi-Fidelity Quartet performed this Barbershop song about Star Trek while acting out the roles of Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Scotty. Run time: 4.5 minutes.

Additionally, here is a recording of what they call the "Enterprise/Sulu Medley", also about classic Trek.

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Here is a 1978 film strip presentation by Pendulum Press of Episode IV of Star Wars. Run time: 20 Minutes. Via Topless Robot

Artist Mari Kasurinen creates My Little Pony models based upon Star Wars, DC Superheroes, Cthulhu, and other speculative fiction themes. Pictured above is the Leia pony, part of a collection of models from Star Wars. Link via Great White Snark

Need a hubby of quality? Through Mail Order Husbands, you can snag a top-tier bachelor like this one. Link via The Presurfer

Artist Tisha DeShields and her company Original Belly Works make decorative fiberglass shells from the protruding bellies of pregnant women. There's something especially beautiful about a very pregnant woman. But as my wife's nine months pregnant, I'm partial.

http://www.originalbellyworks.com/home.html via Yahoo News, where there's a video.

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A music video by puppeteer and special effects artist Matt Ficner. RT: 4 minutes. Via Zombie Monkey Projects

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What would Star Trek: The Next Generation be like if the Enterprise was an interstellar cruise ship? RT: 1 min, 35 sec.

Update 9/4/08 by Alex - original link [MySpace video] - Thanks Charley!

Hot or not? An Italian priest invites readers to decide:

An Italian priest says he is organising the world's first beauty pageant for nuns to erase a stereotype of them as being old and dour.

Antonio Rungi says The Miss Sister Italy online contest will start on his blog in September.

"Nuns are above all women and beauty is a gift from God," he told Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper.

Link via This+That

Honesty is a series of short films taking place in a world where people say exactly what they think. Pretty funny stuff. The one above takes place at a funeral. Link to the whole series

It's a diamond mine in Mirna, Siberia.  It measures 525 m deep and 1.25 km in diameter.  The suction from the hole is so powerful that helicopters flying over it have crashed.  Link via Absolute Moral Authority

[Video Link]  A spooky short film about an over-caffeinated driver who finds himself in an alternate reality after a body crashes through his windshield.  Directed by John Knautz and starring Trevor Matthews.  9 minutes, 3 seconds long.

Many role-playing games, since the early days of Dungeons & Dragons, have employed alignment systems to keep a player's decisions for his character consistent with some ethical framework. This way, a player is not free to have a normally moral character commit heinous acts because it would be temporarily convenient and lack any real-world consequences.

Dungeons & Dragons' alignment system is based on two axes of lawfulness and goodness. Palladium games more or less adapt this system to include selfishness. Other, more narrative-driven systems, such as The World of Darkness, round out a character's attitudes more loosely. And some RPGs have no alignment system at all and leave ethical issues to be freely played out.

What is your favorite alignment system?

Photo by Flickr user laenulfean used under Creative Commons license

Tim of Pop Crunch has a list of what he considers to be the best dystopian novels of all time. Among his choices are The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood and Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. Some of his choices I would class as "post-apocalyptic", rather than dystopian. I think that the latter genre is best defined as set within a tyrannical regime. Nonetheless, the list makes for some interesting reading suggestions.

What is your favorite work of dystopian fiction?

Link via Digg

It's still a couple hours until lunchtime, but I'm hungry! Let's see what cuisine science fiction can offer us.

Star Trek -- a jumja stick. This Bajoran desert is made from the sap of the jumja tree. It's sort of like carmelized apple, except without the apple, or the creamy taste of carmel. Think of it as a dried popsicle.

Star Wars -- human. This Ewok delicacy can be served in a variety of ways, but gourmands prefer to have it roasted over an open fire. Tastes like chicken and pairs well with a dry chardonnay.

Babylon 5 -- spoo. Though physically repugnant while alive, the spoo makes for a quite tasty meat dish. Centauri prefer theirs cubed and aged, whereas the Narn (to the disgust of the Centauri), perfer fresh spoo.

Stargate -- kassa. Sometimes called the "evil Orville Redenbacher", this corn-like product is genetically engineered to be very addictive. That disadvantage aside, it's unbelievably awesomely good. I mean, I can't stop eating it.

What's your favorite food from science fiction?

What science fiction or fantasy author is most deserving of a Nobel Prize for literature?