Miscellaneous Debris: Part 7

What if a virus or plague wiped out all of humanity and left the world free of humans?
The World Without Us is a new book by Alan Weisman that explores that idea. The website for the book describes how infrastructure would gradually collapse and how the human void would be filled with plants, animals, and fungi. A really cool multimedia page has videos and slide shows with speculative art and animation about this concept.

Here is a spot-on Simpsons open using the Star Wars characters. It was made by the guy who gave us Star Dudes and it's sequels.

NASA is testing methane powered rocket engines. Methane can be found on planets other than ours, so it is a good fuel for extra planetary trips, such as to Mars. It's nice that once you get where you are going, you can fill up and come home as well. . .

And Just for fun is is the minimalist, stylish, and simply beautiful intro to the original Ultraman:

Hat Tip to the always cool Main Title Heaven blog. Ultraman Tiga(with a totally awesome theme song), and Ultraman Towards the Future, can also be seen.