Gravity Lens

The God of the Month is Ogma, Celtic Warrior of the Tongue.

The Molecule of the Month is sexy Kisspeptin.

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This weekend I began reading the 2003 anthology Stars: Stories Based on Janis Ian Songs. I've enjoyed all the SF she's written. Tonight I open the new issue of Asimov's and find Welcome Home (the Nebulas Song), a rewriting (by Ms. Ian herself for the Nebula banquet) of her hit At Seventeen, modified to reflect the impact of Science Fiction and Fantasy on her life. The mp3 of the song is here, and the new lyrics are annotated here.

I'm not ashamed to say that, as a curmudgeon entering his late 40s, this choked me up a little.

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Gizmodo lists the 10 Greatest Fictional Inventors of All Time. Listicles did a similar list earlier this year, as did Inc. The Wikipedia list is pretty impressive.

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Took a jaunt through Vermont and New Hampshire this past week. Visited Vermont Country Store (which sells, much to my surprise, vibrators). Quechee Gorge, Clark's Trading Post, Lost River Gorge, Cannon Mountain, The Basin, The Flume Gorge, and generally tooled around the White Mountains. I tried visiting the renowned Funspot in Laconia, but Google Maps and my GPS had differing opinions as to its location, and both were wrong.

While I was gone io9 linked to this site imaging that DC and Marvel's Amalgam project had continued, Lifehacker taught us to make our own glowsticks, and Space.com told us the Danes are sending a mock astronaut into space.

And with only four months until Christmas, I draw your attention to this lifesize T-800 Terminator Endoskeleton, a bargain at under $6000.

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io9 asks could self-aware cities be the first forms of artificial intelligence?

Also, registration for the 2011 Future City competition is open.

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The latest SF Signal Podcast, featuring yours truly discussing Star Wars coming to Blu-Ray, is up.

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io9 examines the SF/Fantasy gimmick of characters aging rapidly. TV Tropes chimes in as well.

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Technovelgy informs us the Google has a way to remove all pedestrians from its Street View. Because giving an automated program orders to remove organic life is always a good idea.

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File this under Learning Something New. I've been belatedly watching Stephen Fry in America, and in his travels he visits a Body Farm, specifically, the Forensic Anthropology Center at the University of Tennesee. Here, bodies are placed in assorted conditions and states, then left to rot. Much later these cadavers are studied so students can determine time and cause if death.

What surprised me wasn't the fact that such a place existed, but rather the realization that this kind of thing happens when you leave your body to science, a fact that may come as a shock to some people.

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LiveScience gives us a list of 7 Amazing Superhuman Feats, as well as the Top Ten Conspiracy Theories.

Furious Fanboys presents Baddass Cars inf Science Fiction, as well as the genres favorite a**holes.

Dark Roasted Blend shows us some monsterous fish.

Warren Ellis links to an album containing the sounds of people being whipped.

Clara Moskowitz of Space.com makes the claim that extraterrestrials will probably love Bach.

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