Chinese imperial throne breaks record

An imperial “dragon” throne owned by a Chinese emperor set the world auction record for Chinese furniture Thursday, selling for about US $11 million. There was frenzied bidding among mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan collectors at the Sotheby’s auction in Hong Kong

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Dragon*Con brings out enthusiasts’ inner geek

It’s Geek Pride Week in Atlanta as thousands of fans take over four downtown hotels for Dragon*Con, an annual celebration of science fiction, fantasy, comics and gaming. Where else — OK, other than San Francisco or New Orleans — are city streets shut down for a ragtag parade of zombies, superheroes, robots, Klingons and Middle Earth dwellers Where else can comic book collectors rub shoulders with movie stars, vampires, alternate-history speculators and Harry Potter look-alikes, all while taking part in a lively game of Godzilla Bingo The whole thing is a bit of a shock to college football fans in town for the season-opening game between Alabama and Virginia Tech, one of whom called it a “freak show.” But those aliens grow on you after a while.

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Private space pioneers: We’re inheritors of Apollo legacy

Richard Garriott had more reason than most to dream the Apollo moon landings would rapidly expand space travel. His father was a NASA astronaut, as were many of his neighbors near Texas’ Johnson Space Center. With nearly all of humanity still on Earth nearly four decades later, the computer game developer paid $35 million for a ride aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to the international space station

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