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I don't remember this picture, taken by the father, of Zoe Roth smirking in front of a burning building from 2005 but apparently it was a polular meme and now the original has sold, in the form of a non-fungible token, for $473,000. Obviously it wasn't paid for in an actual national currency but Ethereum, which is money but like massively inflated, bloated digital money!

The picture in the form of a non-fungible token (NFT) - a kind of unique digital asset that has exploded in popularity so far in 2021 - was snapped up for 180 Ethereum, which is equivalent to $473,000, by a collector known only as @3FMusic.

An NFT is a unique digital token encrypted with an artist's signature and which verifies its ownership and authenticity and is permanently attached to the piece.

It allows 'original' versions of popular online content - like viral memes and tweets - to be sold as if they were physical pieces of art. 

The collector @3FMusic is reportedly Farzin Fardin Fard, CEO of a Dubai-based music production company, according to Gizmodo.  

Zoe, now a university student and waitress, and her father Dave - who captured the photo - were approached by an anonymous person via email in February who encouraged them to sell the image as an NFT. 

I suppose this is the first instance of terraforming on another planet.

The milestone, which the MOXIE instrument achieved by converting carbon dioxide into oxygen, points the way to future human exploration of the Red Planet. The growing list of “firsts” for Perseverance, NASA’s newest six-wheeled robot on the Martian surface, includes converting some of the Red Planet’s thin, carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere into oxygen. A toaster-size, experimental instrument aboard Perseverance called the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) accomplished the task. The test took place April 20, the 60th Martian day, or sol, since the mission landed Feb. 18.

 Nasa

 The Seventh Python is a 2008 musical documentary film about the career, music and philosophy of pop satirist and songwriter Neil Innes. The documentary has never been broadcast and since he is greatly missed by men of a certain age....I thought I'd post it up here.

If you aren't aware of Amazon Warehouse it sells returned, used and open box items. For Black Friday week commencing 20th November they are having an additional 30% off selected items but be quick as most items are not multiples. Additionally they normally expand the offer to other items in the Warehouse on Black Friday. Please use our link: https://amzn.to/3pKFxQK

The illusive PS5 is due for a limited release today but is sold out everywhere and pre-ordered into next year your last chance, before ebay, is at Amazon's Black friday event where you may just manage to snag one, although I wouldn't get my hopes up!

When a copy of Super Mario Bros sold for $114,000.00 early in the month it was thought to be a record price paid for an individual video game but an investment company called Rally had, months earlier, already purchased a copy in similar condition for $140,000.00. 

Rally which bills itself as The stock market of collectibles, make a business out of buying rare expensive collectibles and high end consumables that they calculate will increase in value, then go on to sell individual shares of maybe $50  that users can then resell on their website platform where the shares are tracked in a similar fashion to the stock market. How big a bubble is being blown here?   Via: arstechnica

If you read 2000AD back in the early eighties or even the late seventies then you should be well up for Pat Mills's, who co-created 2000AD, new venture "Spacewarp" which is due to be released digitally in June and in paper late September. It can't come soon enough in my opinion.

Via: Bleeding Cool

In the late seventies, Pat Mills created a new sci-fi anthology weekly comic book, as well as co-creating the lead character. In the forty-plus years since, 2000AD and Judge Dredd have become names that everyone in the UK knows, and courtesy of a couple of movies and a few games, have spread those names around the world. Now, with Jurassic Punx and Spacewarp, Pat Mills is trying to do it again. Spacewarp will launch digitally at the end of June and will appear in print at the end of September, described as DNA-warping science fiction for mainstream audiences of all ages, with Pat Mills writing the lead strips himself.