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I apologize for the vanity, but I know that FR is a community of avid readers. Last year, I read "The Hobbit", "The Lord of The Rings" and "The Silmarillion". I read that Arthur C Clarke referred to "Dune" as 'The Lord of the Rings' of Science Fiction. What are Freepers opinion of Dune (the book not the movie) and should I continue with the sequels? I saw the film 30 years ago, I remember receiving a sheet with a primmer at the movie theatre after buying a ticket. also, is there a Gothic horror equivalent to "Dune" of "Lord...

It's common knowledge that a lot of people in the world don’t have access to clean drinking water. In some parts of Africa, people, particularly children fall victim to bacteria in the water they drink; a lot of them die. For some, getting to a water source, even one that isn’t clean can mean walking for several miles, and then carrying it back. It’s for these people that industrial design students Ryan Lynch and Marcus Triest have designed and created what they call the Solar Bag, it’s a bag that holds water and hangs off the shoulders and lies on...

The U.S. Navy is beginning a worldwide video campaign to let sailors know about the dangers of "Spice". This drug is often described as synthetic marijuana. The problem for the navy is that Spice comes from many manufacturers, varies widely in its purity and potency, and has unpredictable effects. The navy is particularly concerned about its use by crews of ships at sea. Sailors who are off-duty often find themselves being called to handle an emergency. That can be a problem if you've just done a bit of Spice. The navy and air force are particularly hard hit with the...

Desert planets strikingly like the world depicted in the science fiction classic "Dune" might be the more common type of habitable planet in the galaxy, rather than watery planets such as Earth, researchers suggest. Their findings also hint that Venus might have been a habitable desert world as recently as 1 billion years ago. Nearly everywhere there is water on Earth, there is life. As such, the search for life elsewhere in the universe has largely focused on "aqua planets" with a lot of liquid water on their surfaces — either terrestrial planets largely covered with oceans, such as Earth,...

The video you are about to watch was filmed by a driver who stopped along the freeway with many others just outside Al-Ahsa City, in Saudi Arabia. Throughout the last few years there have been many theories put forth as to what caused this phenomenon. Along with those theories, various names have been used to describe it, like "Sand Geyser," "Sand Fountain," "Sand Volcano," and "Sand Injectites." The quality of the video is not the best because it was filmed with a cell phone, and the person who filmed it has not ever identified himself. However, the video is...

The more we hear about Taken director Pierre Morel's approach to a new version of Dune, the better we feel. Today we get news that he's hired a new writer, Chase Palmer, to draft the script, with the mandate: Stick closely to the source material.

"I was inspired a lot by the movie Dune—remember those big padded collars they wore? Well I did that padded look as a flap at the back." - Kanye The sneakers come in three styles − suede, calfskin and patchwork of leathers, and are named The Dons, The Jaspers, and Mr. Hudson.

I was reading Dune Messiah last night and it occurred to me that much of it could be a parable for ourtimes. Paul Atreides - Imanutjob, Spice - Oil, Arrakis, the middle east. He uses much Koranic vocubulary, with the terms like "Mahdi" and "Jihad". I know there are many Dune fans out there. What do you think?

Cult movie director David Lynch has received a lifetime achievement award at the Venice Film Festival. Lynch, 60, has gained a reputation for complex films, including Eraserhead, The Elephant Man, Blue Velvet, Wild At Heart and cult TV series Twin Peaks. He was also at the festival to premiere his latest film, Inland Empire, which includes hallucinatory scenes and a talking rabbit voiced by Naomi Watts. Lynch assured baffled critics "it's supposed to make perfect sense". "Every film is like going into a new world, going into the unknown. But you should be not afraid of using your intuition, and...

Mars Rover Opportunity Raw Image site.

The Sand Dune Forgotten by Time Archaeologists working in the extreme desert terrain of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region have moved a step closer to unraveling the mystery of a 40-century-old civilization. They unearthed 163 tombs containing mummies during their ongoing and long excavation at the mysterious Xiaohe tomb complex. And it's all thanks to the translation of a diary kept by a Swedish explorer more than 70 years ago. "We have found more than 30 coffins containing mummies," said Idelisi Abuduresule, head of the Xinjiang Cultural Relics and Archaeology Institute and the excavation team. The complex is believed to...

I've had a couple of people tell me how much they love the book Dune, and how much they would love to have a discussion thread. Dune is a monumental work. I think that, so many times, it is used by the left in trying to apply it to what is going on today. They don't realize that it was written in the mid-60s. So, if you love to read, and would like to discuss Dune, the books, miniseries, movie, etc., this is the place. Please ping your FRiends!

Few people know that John Kerry is a veteran of the war for Arrakis as well.And after returning home from battle he joinedthe AVAW (Arrakis Veterans Against the War). He was later seen throwing another veterans space medals over the King's fortress wall.

No one would argue that earthworms are cute. But to most people, they are benign and helpful creatures — fertilizers of the garden, aerators of the soil, indispensable fishing companions. "Earthworms are truly nature's little farmers," goes one common view, this one on the Web site of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, "plowing the soil and fertilizing at the same time!" But for a growing body of researchers, the traditional view of earthworms is giving way to a much more ominous one. Most earthworms common in the United States are exotic intruders from Europe, Asia or South America, these scientists point...

I knew this was going to happen, so ... I am reposting this in light of the following story blurb that just appeared on Drudge: From Drudge 10:12 PM 03-10-03 By Bill Gertz: Al Qaeda is seeking recruits in the Middle East for terrorist attacks on oil fields in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in the event of U.S. military action against Iraq, U.S. intelligence officials say... MORE... The al Qaeda recruitment is targeting radical Islamists in Saudi Arabia and Yemen who are willing to conduct suicide attacks and other sabotage against the oil fields outside Iraq, the WASHINGTON TIMES will...

Thoughts have previously occurred to me, regarding similarities the Frank Herbert's "Dune" as relates to the Ozama Bin Laden phenomenon and the rise of Isamofascist fundamentalism, but they involve a specific aspect of the Herbert story, and thereby reflect some of the economic dangers to the West that may just now be appearing. Please forgive the strains this kind of speculation and comparison of actual events with a fictional tale put on credibility, and just bear with me for a moment. Also, please don't take my musings as any kind of endorsement or lionization of Bin Laden as some kind...

The SCI FI Channel announced that its upcoming original miniseries sequel Frank Herbert's Children of Dune will premiere at 9 p.m. ET/PT March 16. The six-hour, three-night series follows up the channel's Emmy-Award-winning miniseries Frank Herbert's Dune and is based on the second and third books in Herbert's heralded Dune Chronicles books. Children of Dune features many of the original cast and crew from the first miniseries, with Susan Sarandon joining the ensemble in her career debut as a villain, the network announced. The sequel continues the story of the Atreides family 12 years after Paul Muad'Dib (Alec Newman)...

The missing sun temples Six Pharaohs of the Fifth Dynasty built massive sun temples at Abu Sir in addition to their pyramids, but only two have so far been found.Jill Kamil talks to the head of the Czech archaeological mission In a presentation on Abu Sir given at the American University in Cairo last week head of the Czech mission Miroslav Verner told the audience that his team had recently been focusing on the "vast and remarkable monuments", the sun temples raised by the Pharaohs of the Fifth Dynasty who ruled from 2494 to 2345 BC. "Their plan (main...