Get to know the friendly side of tongue-eating parasites

This story will display in ...Feb 27, 2013 9:20 AM  

In this video from NOVA, you'll learn about how the isopods known colloquially as tongue-eating parasites aren't just about, well, eating tongues. They also have a cool reproductive cycle, complete with hermaphroditism. Plus, you'll get some helpful advice about checking the mouths of your favorite fish for these strange invaders.

Caterpillar B15 rugged smartphone hands-on: surprisingly well balanced

If you’ve ever used a “rugged” smartphone or tablet before, you’ll be surprised to hear that the newest of these rare unicorns is not slow and stunted like those of the past have been – instead the CAT B15 is a rather well balanced device. We’ve had a peek at the B15 from CAT (or Caterpillar, however you like), and found it to be both obviously able to withstand a beating and appearing to run as quick in its Android implementation as we’d expect a 2013 device to be.

WIth the B15 you’re getting a dual-core 1Ghz Cortex A9 processor powering a 4-inch 800 x 480 pixel resolution display along with 512MB of RAM and 4GB of internal storage. There’s a microSD card slot inside able to take on 32GB of additional storage, and the whole phone is ready to fit in the palm of your hand easily – especially if you’re a construction worker or massive person of sorts, generally the type to get into situations where such damage-resistant features as this one has will come in handy. But the audience this device has is not limited to those that pick up and smash down large rocks!

You’ll be working with aluminum (or aluminium, depending on how British you are), and shock-absorbing rubber on the outside. This is a device that will not – ever – need a case to protect it. The display up front is covered by Gorilla Glass (though we’re not sure at the moment if it’s Gorilla Glass or Gorilla Glass 2), and the aluminum and rubber frame comes up ever-so-slightly around the edges so if your device falls to a flat surface, the display will be further protected. You’ll see a couple of DEATH-DEFYING DROPS in the hands-on video above.

The CAT B15 is able to drop from a height of 6 feet, fall onto concrete, and survive to tell the tale. You’ll also be working with 3 feet of water protection as the whole of the device is sealed with more shock-absorbing rubber for the safety of its innards. Heat is also protected against up to 122 degrees Fahrenheit as well as cold, down to -4 degrees Fahrenheit.

You’ll be picking this device up in March if you live in one of the 50 countries the device is launched in across the world at first for right around 299 Euro. At the moment though we’ve heard from CAT that the device is planned for USA release in April, pricing has not been decided as deals with carriers have not been finalized. We shall see soon enough!

Be sure to have a peek at the rest of our up to the minute news blast and hands-on collection in the Mobile World Congress 2013 tag portal here on SlashGear. We’ll be here all week, and we’ve already seen quite a bit of excellent bits and pieces from manufacturers and developers of mobile greatness alike!

New theory suggests Lenin died from a rare genetic brain disorder

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Vladimir Lenin, the Russian communist revolutionary, died from an apparent stroke at the age of 53. His untimely death has been the subject of much controversy and speculation — but new theory from UCLA may finally hold the answer.

By the time of his death in 1924, Lenin had already suffered three strokes. His rapid cognitive decline was characteristic of someone considerably older, leading historians to speculate about other factors, such as poisoning or syphilis.

But a new theory suggests that Lenin suffered from a rare genetic disorder that caused fatal stone-like calcifications to form in his brain.

This news comes to us from Discover Magazine's Neuroskeptic, who writes:

During his autopsy, it was found that the blood vessels around Lenin's brain were heavily calcified – essentially, they had hardened, and narrowed, due to a build-up of minerals and fats. This is known as atherosclerosis and, although it happens to all of us as we age, Lenin suffered from an unusually severe, and early, case. It was noted during the postmortem that tapping the vessels with a pair of metal tweezers produced a sound as if they were made of stone...

...A team of neurologists led by UCLA's Harry Vinters have suggested a possible answer in a new paper: Vessels of Stone: Lenin's "Circulatory Disturbance of the Brain". They point to a recently-discovered disorder that causes selective atherosclerosis of the blood vessels in the legs, caused by a mutation in the gene NT5E.

Vinters and his colleagues suggest that Lenin might have had a similar genetic problem, but one that affected primarily the brain. Lenin's father and siblings (seemingly) suffered circulatory diseases as well; indeed his father died at almost exactly the same age, in a similar fashion. Still, they admit that such a genetic disorder remains speculative at present.

Read more at Discovery Magazine.

Image.

These hyperrealistic sculptures of giants must be seen to be believed

This story will display in ...Feb 27, 2013 9:40 AM  

Ron Mueck creates incredibly realistic and expressive sculptures of human bodies that play with our ideas of size and scale. When displayed, his works give us the impression that we live in a world populated by giants. But when he's photographed working in his studio, the scenes are almost more magical, casting Mueck as a servant for giants or perhaps a maker of uncanny androids.

Photographer Gautier Deblonde, who took the photo up top, has a remarkable series of photos of Mueck's studio. Mueck creates humanoid sculptures large and small, and thanks to their carefully placed wrinkles and folds, they look ready to draw breath. The effect of seeing Mueck or other people next to his sculptures can be startling, as can seeing them covered in plastic and ready to head into storage.

Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain in Paris will be exhibiting some of Mueck's sculptures from April 16-September 29, 2013, which will be the first exhibition of Mueck's work since 2005. If you can't make it to Paris, however, a photo tour of his studio and his Facebook page are definitely worth the trips.

Photo via Mueck's Facebook.

Photo by Gautier Deblonde.

Photo by Anthony d'Offay.

Ron Mueck [Gautier Deblonde via My Modern Met]

Toyota i-ROAD teased for EV city duty

BuzzNet Tags: Toyota,iROAD,teased

Toyota can’t seem top stop designing long, thin city cars, and its latest – the Toyota i-ROAD – has been teased ahead of a debut at the Geneva Motor Show. Billed as ”an ultra-compact zero-emissions city car” the i-ROAD is otherwise shrouded in secrecy, though the top-down view suggests something along the lines of the Toyota Smart INSECT shown off in Japan last October.

The Smart INSECT had an eye-catching gullwing design – complete with proximity sensors so that the doors would open for you automatically as you walked up – and a hook up to a smartphone for traffic reports and other information. Toyota also envisaged it linking with your automated home, so that you could remotely control locks, appliances, and other hardware while on the move.

It’s not clear if the i-ROAD follows the same single-seater approach of the Smart INSECT (and, indeed, the Toyota COMS announced alongside it) or puts two people in tandem. That would certainly make more sense for city use, though it would have an inevitable impact on battery life.

It’s not the first time we’ve seen this narrow style of vehicle attempt to address the frustration of city driving. Renault has been offering its unusual Twizy EV for some time now, though it comes with some compromises: no doors or windows as standard is probably the most obvious.

However, narrow doesn’t have to mean dull. Persu – previously VentureOne - has been talking about its tilting three-wheeler for years now, with a production launch now tipped for 2014. It uses tilt-tech licensed from Carver, which previously offered the Carver One before declaring bankruptcy in 2009.

We’ll know more about the Toyota i-ROAD in early March, when the company shows it off properly in Geneva.

Winston Churchill's plan to fight Nazis with massive aircraft carriers made from ice

As 1942 began, the Americans had joined World War II and the Battle of the Atlantic began to intensify. German U-boats were picking off merchant ships at an alarming rate. From January 13 to February 6, Hitler's wolfpacks dropped 157,000 tonnes of Allied shipping to the bottom of the ocean — and without incurring a single loss. Later that October, 56 ships totalling 258,000 tonnes were sunk in the "air gap" between Greenland and Iceland.

And therein laid the problem: The mid-Atlantic was inaccessible to submarine snuffing Allied aircraft. It was a desperate situation that called for a radical solution. Looking to turn things around, Winston Churchill — an ardent supporter of unique technological innovations — approved Operation Habakkuk: The plan to create a fleet of massive aircraft carriers made from ice.

Above image: An idealized artistic impression of the H.M.S. Habakkuk.

Indeed, Churchill was in no mood to see the war in the Atlantic slip even further out of control. Throughout its history, the island nation had recognized the importance of sea power, and World War II was proving no different.

Britain required more than a million tons of imported material each week in order to be able to survive and fight the Germans. But by that stage in the war, the country's inhabitants were already on food rations. Churchill was genuinely concerned that mass starvations were right around the corner. Moreover, if a second European front was ever going to happen, the sea lanes had to be free from marauding U-boats.

Churchill later wrote, "The Battle of the Atlantic was the dominating factor all through the war. Never for one moment could we forget that everything happening elsewhere, on land, at sea or in the air depended ultimately on its outcome." After the war, he admitted that U-boats were the only thing that truly terrified him during the struggle.

Thus, to Churchill's surprise, a potential solution came in the form a unique material consisting primarily of ice. While taking a bath one day at his home at Chequers in late 1942, an excited Lord Louis Mountbatten — the British military Chief of Combined Operations — stormed in and dropped a chunk of ice between Churchill's legs. During the course of the next several minutes, the two watched in amazement as the ice refused to melt in the warm water.

It was called pykrete, the invention of Geoffrey Pyke, an eccentric scientist who was working for Combined Operations. Earlier that year, Pyke was struck with the idea of creating floating islands made from carefully sculpted icebergs. He eventually realized, however, that his vision was unworkable. Standard ice was simply too weak. He needed something considerably more durable.

No doubt, ice is not a great material to work with. Under normal conditions, ice that has been moulded into a beam will fracture at loads anywhere from five kilograms per square centimeter (70 pounds per square inch) to 35 kilograms per square centimeter (500 pounds per square inch). Moreover, because it fails at unpredictable loads, it's not an ideal medium for construction.

Undaunted, Pyke figured he could find a way to reinforce ice, so he began to experiment with various concoctions. After a process of trial-and-error, he threw some wood pulp into the mix — and the ensuing difference in strength was dramatic. The new material, dubbed pykrete, increased the strength of regular ice to 70 kilograms per square centimeter (1,000 pounds per square inch) — enough to deflect a bullet shot at close range (as proven later in this story). It also had tremendous crush resistance; a one-inch column would be able to support an entire automobile. Further, pykrete took a lot longer to melt than regular ice.

Pyke had stumbled upon a rather fortuitous combination of materials. When water freezes, the hydrogen and oxygen atoms form a six-sided crystalline structure. These crystals provide open spaces, which is why water expands as it freezes, and why it's susceptible to pressure changes. Pykrete, on the other hand, still takes advantage of the crystalline structure, but the cellulose fibres from the wood pulp reinforces it in a way that's similar to how concrete is reinforced by steel wiring. Once frozen, it's about 14 times stronger than regular ice, and tougher than concrete.

This was the wonder material that Pyke was looking for — what would form the basic building block of his giant floating island made from ice. He presented his findings to Mountbatten, who in turn brought the plan to Churchill's attention.

And for good reason; Churchill displayed a tremendous willingness to entertain unconventional ideas. Indeed, during the course of the war the Allies employed unorthodox tactics like dropping streams of tinfoil from planes to confuse enemy radar (dubbed "Window" — and an idea the Nazis later stole when bombing London in 1944), the development of miniature submarines, the construction of artificial harbors (called mulberries — an idea that Churchill first sketched out in 1917!), and dam busting bouncing bombs.

Pykrete, thought Mountbatten, could be another unconventional innovation. He told Churchill that it would last indefinitely and be self-healing against bullets, bombs and torpedoes. Ice was inherently unsinkable, and any holes could quickly be patched up with quickly freezing water. The ice-carriers would also reduce Britain's dependency on steel.

Churchill, who used to worked for the First Lord of the Admiralty and was an inventor in his own right, immediately seized upon the idea.

"I attach the greatest importance to the prompt examination of these ideas," he wrote in his ensuing approval letter. "The advantages of a floating island or islands, even if only used as refueling depots for aircraft, are so dazzling that they do not need at the moment to be discussed." He stamped the letter ‘Action This Day.'

Operation Habakkuk was officially underway. Churchill, though not a religious man, came up with the name by referring to an old Testament text which read, "Behold ye among the heathen…for I will work a work in your days…which ye will not believe."

Once developed, Churchill planned to deploy the ice-carriers off the coast of France and in the Indian Ocean where they would primarily serve as refuelling stations for the RAF. The plans called for an entire fleet, with each carrier measuring 2,000 feet long, 300 feet wide, and with walls forty feet thick. The entire structure would displace two million tonnes of water and be stitched together using 40 foot blocks of pykrete. Had it been constructed, it would have been the largest floating structure ever built.

Each carrier would be capable of carrying over 300 aircraft of all sorts, including bombers and fighters (like Spitfires and Hurricanes, which did not have folding wings). For contrast today's Nimitz class carriers can carry 90 aircraft. On the downside, however, the designs called for a structure that could only travel at 6 knots (11 km/h or 7 mph).

Eventually, Churchill shared the plan with his American allies, who exhibited more skepticism than they did enthusiasm.

After a heated discussion among the Allied chiefs of staff at Quebec's Chateau Frontenac Hotel in August 1943 on another matter, Mountbatten suddenly announced that he was going to give a demonstration. He pulled out two blocks of ice: a regular chunk of ice, the other pykrete. Without warning, he pulled out his revolver and shot the ice block, shattering it to pieces. Then he turned the gun to the pykrete and pulled the trigger. The bullet ricocheted off the block and buzzed around the room like an angry bee. The bullet grazed the legs of U.S. Fleet Admiral Ernest King and U.K. RAF Marshal Charles Portal, shocking the Allied chiefs — who soon erupted into a chorus of relieved laughter. Meanwhile, outside the room, a junior officer was heard to exclaim, "Good God, they've started shooting now!"

This bizarre episode aside, some members of the Combined staff were intrigued by what the ice islands could mean for the war in the Pacific theatre. In one scenario, fleets of ice-aircraft carriers could be brought down from the Aleutian Islands and re-located near the Japanese main island. From there, squadrons of B17 or B29 bombers could be deployed — and all without having to displace Japanese troops from the surrounding occupied islands.

The first stage of Habakkuk involved some proof-of-concept testing. Along with the Austrian-born British molecular biologist, Max Perutz, Pyke set to work on refining the material in an ultra secret location in Great Britain: a refrigerated meat locker in a Smithfield Market butcher's basement. The team's "assistants" were British commandos in disguise, and they worked behind a protective screen of frozen animal carcasses. Even Mountbatten came to visit one day, but had to be disguised as an everyday civilian.

Once satisfied with their mixture — 86% ice and 14% wood pulp — the project was relocated to Patricia Lake in Jasper, Canada, where a scale model was built in the summer of 1943. The location was chosen on account of its remoteness, frigid climate, and accessibility to crucial railway lines.

To construct the miniature prototype, a team of "alternative workers" was employed — a group of conscientious objectors who hadn't the slightest clue what they were building.

The scale model measured 60 feet long and 30 feet wide. It weighed 1,000 tons, and was kept frozen by a 1-horsepower motor.

And indeed, it soon became obvious that pykrete was not immune to the elements — it was in fact susceptible to melting. To deal with this, the designers had to provision for a complex cooling system — which essentially turned the H.M.S. Habakkuk into a giant refrigerator. The entire structure would have be fitted with a series of pipes that ran coolant. Suddenly, the project became considerably more complicated — and an order of magnitude more expensive.

Moreover, the amount of material required to build just one Habakkuk was immense. Hundreds of thousands of tons of wood pulp would be required — an amount that would have a profound impact on the production of other wood and pulp based products, including (and especially) paper.

It also became obvious that the Americans would have to get involved by providing the large quantities of steel required.

The project started to spiral out of control on account of untenable technological hurdles, supply problems, and rapidly escalating costs. Churchill himself got cold feet when he learned that each carrier would cost upwards of £6 million.

Though the scale model was built, the project was eventually cancelled.

Technorati Tags: Winston,Churchills,fight,Nazis,massive,aircraft,carriers

By the time the developers were ready to go with the full-blown version — which was now 1944 — the situation in the war was dramatically different. The Battle of the Atlantic had been won, and the Americans were mass producing small aircraft carriers at a daunting rate. In addition, Portugal made its airfields available to the Allies, land-based aircraft were attaining longer ranges, and U-boats were being sunk at rates faster than they could be built. Moreover, the U.S. was making progress in the Pacific without the floating islands. And of course, there was always the chance the the atomic bomb would soon end things once and for all.

So, with Operation Habakkuk canceled, the model sat abandoned on the surface of Patricia Lake — where it didn't melt until later the following summer. In the 1970s, remnants of the prototype were found and studied. Today, a plaque commemorating Operation Habakkuk can be seen on the lake's shore.

Sources: The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill: Defender of the Realm, 1940-1965 (Manchester & Reid), London Evening Standard (1951), Cabinet Magazine, Royal Naval Museum.

Images: Library of Congress, UAF, Irrational Geographic, BookOfNorm.

Death Star PR prefers you call their ship a “Justice Moon”

This story will display in ...Feb 18, 2013 11:05 AM  

Watch a spin team at its best. The Death Star PR group attacks the Alderaan explosions with the twisty tricks that only the Empire could employ. This new webseries by Robbie Boland is actually quite brilliant. We can't wait to see how they tackle the next PR disaster for the Empire.

[via The Mary Sue]

This Week's TV: Community heads to an Inspector Spacetime Convention

Get a double dose of awesome this week when Community star Donald Glover stars in the new Adventure Time. Plus, the Greendale gang heads to an Inspector Spacetime Convention. What will the meta minds at Community have to say about conventions, especially since Comic Con and Wonder Con were such big events for these characters? Annie's Boobs even came out at SDCC.

Also this week Farscape creator Rockne O'Bannon will premiere his creepy Cult series.

Adventure Time (7:30 PM, Cartoon Network)
Fionna and Cake and cake are back with Prince Gumball (voiced by Neil Patrick Harris) and a brand new gender swapped character. Take a look at the character Marshall Lee who is voiced by Donald Glover.

Reprising his role as Prince Gumball from season three's much-loved gender switch episode "Adventure Time with Fionna and Cake," Emmy® Award-Winning Actor Neil Patrick Harris will join Donald Glover, as Marshall Lee, the musical male counterpart to fan favorite Marceline the Vampire Queen in "Bad Little Boy." In this special episode, the princesses are sick and tired of Ice King's crazy Fionna and Cake stories, so Marceline stops by the Ice Kingdom to show him how it's done.

Continuum (8:00 PM, Syfy):
The Liber8 freedom fighters are up to no good, kidnapping the CEO of Exotrol, Henrietta Sherman. Kagame puts the decision to kill or free his hostage to an Internet vote.

Being Human (9 PM, Syfy):
The Bubble Boy begs Aidan to make him immortal... but then what will happen to The Chin's meal ticket? Plus Sally finally realizes that she should have left Boston a long time ago.

Lost Girl (10 PM, Syfy): Kenzi convinces the others to imprison Bo in the Dal Riata. But that's not the REAL Kenzi!

Also on TV tonight: The Regular Show at 8 PM on Cartoon Network followed by a new episode of MAD. There's a new Crash & Bernstein at 8:30 PM on Disney XD. Plus The Following at 9 PM on Fox. There's also a brand new Castle on ABC at 10 PM.

Cult (9 PM, CW):

The season premiere of Rockne O'Bannon's majorly meta TV show. It's a show about a show about a fictitious cult group. A show so popular it has its own secret cult following. A reporter gets tangled in the strange world of Billy Grimm and he's creepy Cult show after his brother (a huge fan of the show) goes missing.

Lots of wacky reality TV today like Wild Things with Dominic Monaghan on BBCA at 10PM. Which, yes, this is a show about the hobbit actor Dominic traveling around and playing with bugs. Doomsday Preppers on NGC at 9 PM, Dual Survival on Discovery at 9 PM. Also on TV tonight: Looney Tunes Show and a new Level Up!.

Arrow (8 PM, The CW):
The Green Arrow versus NECK BOMBS!

Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) tells Oliver (Stephen Amell) he's all work and no play, so he asks Detective McKenna (guest star Janina Gavankar) on a date. A jewel thief named Dodger (guest star James Callis) hits Starling City and targets someone very close to Oliver. Meanwhile, while working with Laurel (Katie Cassidy), Thea (Willa Holland) gets her purse stolen by a very fast pickpocket named Roy Harper (guest star Haynes). Moira (Susanna Thompson) makes a move against Malcom (John Barrowman)

Dragons: Riders of Berk (8 PM, Cartoon Network):?
Hiccup and Snotlout struggle to find their way back from Outcast Island. Which is not a magical island for awesome vampire people who wear sunglasses, unfortunately. But there are still dragons, and that's OK.

The Neighbors (8:30 PM, ABC):?
All we could find on this episode was the title, which is a doozy. "Larry Bird presents an oscar(r)-winning film by Larry Bird." Looks like the aliens are getting into the picture business.

Supernatural (9 PM, The CW):
Sam and Dean get a puppy! Sort of. But this episode is less about dogs and more about a police officer who started using magic to solve his cases.

"Man's Best Friend With Benefits" - A police officer named Kevin (guest star Christian Campbell), who turned to witchcraft after working a case with Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles), is plagued by nightmares in which he murders innocent people. However, when the murders actually happen, Sam and Dean are called in by Kevin's "familiar" (guest star Mishael Morgan) to help —— but the brothers aren't sure they want to save a witch.

Also on TV tonight: The Americans on FX. And there's a new Nova on PBS at 9 PM, titled "Mind of A Rampage Killer." Ahem, RAMPAGE!

The Vampire Diaries (8 PM, The CW):
How do vampires deal with grief? Very poorly. Watch Elena go bananas over her darling brother Jeremy.

When Stefan (Paul Wesley) arrives back in Mystic Falls with Elena (Nina Dobrev) and Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen), Caroline (Candice Accola) is immediately worried about Elena's state of mind. Stefan reaches out to Dr. Fell (guest star Torrey DeVitto) and Matt (Zach Roerig) for help. Still on the island, Damon (Ian Somerhalder) relays somber news to Rebekah (Claire Holt), and is surprised at her reaction. Together, Damon and Rebekah learn an unexpected bit of recent history from Vaughn (guest star Charlie Bewley). Everyone is horrified when Bonnie reveals the rest of Shane's (guest star David Alpay) plan. Finally, after Damon does his best to help her, Elena comes up with a plan of her own.

Community (8 PM, NBC):
"Conventions of Space and Time" is going to be HUGE for die hard Greendalers. The gang goes to an Inspector Spacetime convention! And since we can't find a single video of this new episode (which is frustrating) we can tell you that BSG's Tricia Helfer will be guest starring in Thursday's episode. Fingers crossed for light-up spine sex jokes!

Zero Hour (8 PM, ABC)
After last week's totally insane premiere stuffed with nightmares, Nazi babies and completely unhinged conspiracy theories we're totally ready for episode 2. Hank is still searching for his wife and unraveling mystery after mystery.

"Face" - An explosive start to Hank's search for his wife, Laila, brings him and 'Beck' to a near-death confrontation with White Vincent, who slips away in the Canadian Tundra. Now faced with more questions than answers - not just about his wife, but about his own existence - the search is on for the next clock. Determined to unlock the next clue in the hope that it will bring him closer to understanding his past and the woman he loves, Hank and Beck set course for India, where Hank is confronted with a bombshell discovery. Meanwhile, Rachel and Arron chase another path, which reveals the final journey of the mysterious Rose Commandant.

Beauty and the Beast (9 PM, The CW):
Cat's friends hate Vincent so much that they STAGE AN INTERVENTION. Oh lordy.

"Tough Love" - After a dinner where Cat (Kristin Kreuk) introduces Vincent (Jay Ryan) to Heather (Nicole Gale Anderson) ends badly, Heather enlists Tess (Nina Lisandrello) to stage an intervention with Cat. Evan (Max Brown) receives an interesting proposition that could change the course of his cross species investigation and at an event to honor Joe, Heather goes missing and Vincent is forced to make a tough decision that saves her life.

Person of Interest (9 PM, CBS):
Reese and Finch find a sexy lady crime fighter who just so happens to take out terrorists before they commit a crime. It's not a coincidence that they both have the same abilities, because they are both working for the same "entity." But what does that really mean? And can there be only one team?

"Relevance" guest starring Sarah Shahi - A lethal and sexy government operative who tracks and stops terrorist threats before they occur finds herself on the run — and the new focus of Reese and Finch's attention. However, their pursuit proves to be their most formidable when they discover that her remarkable skillset equals their own, on.

Archer (10 PM, FX):
A snake bites Archer in a very special area. Cue the aligator people hallucinations.

Also on TV tonight: On CBS, there's a new Big Bang Theory, and then Elementary at 10 PM.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4WKLqM2Img&list=UU1qJtd6Q7jT8IG_oUUa2y_w&index=19Touch (8 PM, Fox):
Kiefer Sutherland makes awesome threats about harming his son. Would anyone else watch an entire episode where Sutherland just goes around town threatening people? "A 10 dollar credit card limit... that's absurd. What sort of monster ARE YOU?"

"Perfect Storm" - Unforeseen developments at Aster Corp. force Martin to make a nail-biting decision and strike a deal with someone unexpected. Meanwhile, Lucy visits the police with new information about Amelia's kidnapping, and Avram (guest star Bodhi Elfman) spots Guillermo in New York and warns Martin and Jake that he's on the hunt for them.

Merlin (10 PM, Syfy):
When Merlin agrees to help a young Druid boy he's forced out of Camelot. Which is exactly what this seemingly innocent Druid wants from Merlin.

Also on TV tonight: A new Portlandia will air on IFC at 10 PM.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars (9:30 AM, Cartoon Network):
Wonderfully titled, "To Catch a Jedi" the latest episode follows Ahsoka who's on the lam and in bad company with Asajj Ventress. Ahsoka makes a bad deal with the Sith in hopes of proving her innocence.

DC Nation (10 AM, Cartoon Network):? Green Lantern and Young Justice circle the drain in their last few episodes.

Also on TV today: A new TMNT will air at 7 PM on Cartoon Network. Power Rangers: Megaforce will air at 1 PM on Nickelodeon, which will be followed by Supah Ninjas on Nickelodeon at 8:30 PM.

Once Upon a Time (8 PM, ABC):
This week Once will bring back Ginnifer Goodwin's junior clone Bailee Madison for a flashback about baby Snow White. Meanwhile adult Snow White will go head-to-head with Cora and Hook gets his revenge on the Crocodile.

The Walking Dead (9 PM, AMC):

The Governor made his presence known, but now what? Will he return with his small army to take the prison? Or will Rick stop wasting our time chasing Lori phantom and resume his spot as leader of the group. But then again, does anyone want a crazy person leading their gang?

"Rick and the group are forced to make a decision now that their safety is no longer guaranteed. Andrea feels uncomfortable now that Woodbury has become a police state."

Also on TV today: Fox rolls out the animated goodies, starting at 7:30 PM.

Sources: Futon Critic and various TV studio press releases.

An exclusive preview of Grant Morison's penultimate issue of Action Comics!

This story will display in ...Feb 18, 2013 9:20 AM  

The young Superman of Action Comics is almost done with Grant Morrison, but Grant Morrison's not quite done with him. In our exclusive preview of Action Comics #17 due out out Wednesday) — the second-to-last of Morrison's run, Morrison puts Supers through two very bad days, one in his past, and the other... uh... in his less past, I guess. Check out our five-page preview below, as well as variety of alternate covers.

G.I. Joe: Retaliation trailer: Oh snap! The President's the bad guy!

This story will display in ...Feb 18, 2013 1:10 PM  

Many months ago, toy movie G.I. Joe: Retaliation was packed away to be rewritten and re-released this March. And now here it is with a more action-centric trailer. Gone is the camp, replaced with even more guns, explosions and air sword fights. We kind of loved how self-aware the old trailers were, so let's hope that's not gone from this re-edit.

G.I. Joe: Retaliation will open on March 27th.