geekosystem

The Sun, it will surprise no one, is very, very hot. What is surprising -- and consistently baffling to researchers -- is that there are certain parts of the sun that are actually rather chilly. You know, in comparison to the rest of the Sun, which, as we've covered, is just exceedingly warm. The European Space Agency's (ESA) Herschel observatory may have made a stride or two towards understanding the strange phenomenon, though, as it has recorded the first evidence of a similar cool outer layer in a star that isn't the Sun. The same cool layer has been observed for the first time in Alpha Centauri A, a relatively nearby star noted for its similarities to our own Sun.

In an announcement that is surprising no one, Firaxis has announced that Civilization V is under development. And while much is being made of the game's promised features -- including additional civilizations, leaders who speak in their native tongues, and long-range bombardment by units (but wait, wasn't that in Alpha Centauri a decade ago?) -- no one seems to be covering the drastic change apparent in the screenshots. That's right -- the map uses hexagons instead of squares! What is this, some Avalon Hill monstrosity? Sid Meier must be rolling in his #9 Power Grid slot.

Today was going to be MMO-focused, what with the launch of Star Trek Online and the debut of our associated Power Grid, but an unexpected deluge of Civilization-related news has turned this into Civ Day (or...We Love the King Day?)

Anyway: FreeCiv, the open-source member the Civilization family, is now available for free, in your browser. Forget Battlefield: Heroes and browser Quake -- this is how the twenty-something creative underclass should be wasting its daylight hours.