Gravity Lens Weblog

Gravity Lens Archive July 15 - August 10 2005

Wednesday, August 10

The original Star Wars trilogy has been adapted as a one-man show in New York.

Here's the official site, with video clips.

With the landing of Discovery, Leonard David of Space.com reminds us of how often mishaps in space occur.

Sign of the Apocalypse: Ramones Teddy Bears.

Tuesday, August 9

Popular Science has an excellent feature on the future of the human body, while Joanna Glasner of Wired takes stock in life-extension.

An expedition has supposedly found Atlantis. Yes, it was way down below the ocean.

Monday, August 8

Space Stuff: SpaceRef gives us a glimpse at the proposed Space Tug.

Henry Joy McCracken of Spiked Online takes NASA to task for not exploring anything.

Manned space exploration also tops CNet's list of Top Ten Tech We Miss.

And don't forget the Perseids happen this week. Here's Space.com's Viewers' Guide.

Sunday, August 7

Locus reports that the Libertarian Futurist Society award this years Prometheus Award to Neal Stephenson's The System of the World.

The Hugo Awards have also been announced.

Friday, August 5

Recommended Readin': Mark Ward of the BBC tells us Why the Future Could Be British.

Bill Dawson of the Star Tribune looks at the recent spate of new magazines.

David Schneider of American Scientist tells us of the coming of phaser technology.

Xeni Jardin of Wired attended the Cyber Fashion Show (with cool photo gallery).

McSweeney's gives us some anticlimactic Twilight Zone episodes.

And if you think that's funny, The Economist tells us why we laugh.

Thursday, August 4

Assorted Items: Retrocrush visits the Bates Motel.

Exclamation Mark links to this gallery of cool Steel Robots based on SF films

I've been spending far too much time at TV Obscurities.

Wednesday, August 3

I love short-short stories, microfiction, nanotales, etc. A couple days ago a site called 365 Tomorrows went on line, promising us a short story per day for the next year.

How much would you pay to be flung around by a giant robotic arm?

Tuesday, August 2

Assorted comic book versions of Frankenstein's Monster, plus spin-offs.

Eye of the Goof links to this ongoing Dial B for Blog feature of the 40 Sickest Comic Covers.

Looking Ahead: Mike Treder at The Center for Responsible Nanotechnology looks at nano's potential role in helping NASA, while Michael Behar of Popular Science examines ideas to curb global warming, including a 600,000-square-mile space mirror.

I forgot to mention yesterday that the excellent site Nine Planets has changed its name.

UPDATE: Geekpress links to the headline "Hacker forced new planet discovery out of the closet."

Monday, August 1

The 2005 Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest winners have been announced.

It is August.

The God of the Month is Kane. The Molecule of the Month is Linezolid.

In celebration of the solar system's new found tenth planet, here's a number of pages about hypothetical planets and, of course, the dreaded Planet X.

Still waiting for an explanation as to how astrologers missed this...

Sunday, July 31

"The new super magnet at The National High Magnetic Field Laboratory weighs more than 15 tons and has a magnetic field 420,000 times that of the Earth's..."

The Mirror gives us a rather optimistic future technology timeline.

Saturday, July 30

Maps of the Future: Here's Gordon-Michael Scallion's future maps, a couple of geographic maps (and a click & drag animation) from Christopher Scotese, and a neat page at History of the Universe that shows you continental drift between 10 million and 200 millions years from now.

Friday, July 29

The newly refurbished Geekpress links to this excellent list showing the salaries of TV dads, adjusted for inflation.

The latest Modern Drunkard looks at the role of alcohol in mythology, examines the wine-making skills of the ancient Egyptians, and takes cocktails with the cavemen.

Assorted Future-Tech Items: IOL tells us there now exists anti-gravity ramen noodles (but I think they mean zero-gravity).

The International Herald Tribune tells us about face transplant technology.

Technovelgy has stories about the robot built to fight kendo-style, as well a recent crime predicted by a computer.

Thursday, July 28

A couple have signed on to take a honeymoon trip into space. No word on plans for zero-gravity sex yet. And did anyone ever see that zero-gee porn film from a few years back?

Wednesday, July 27

Webspeak: Steven Grant of Comic Book Resources looks at using the Internet to promote comics. James Patrick Kelly at Asimov's examines the Internet's role in the search for ETI.

And if you haven't heard, Internet radio is coming to your car.

The BBC headline reads "Scientists test Bigfoot hairs."

To put this story in perspective, some Sasquatch-centric Weekly World News headlines have included "Dwarf Slays Bigfoot," "World's First Bigfoot Hooker," and "I Was Bigfoot's Love Slave!"

The blog Drawn linked to this strange 1957 promotional comic where Charlie Brown and Lucy visit the real world to see how newspapers are made.

Tuesday, July 26

This morning you woke up in a world where spammers are beaten to death.

Monday, July 25

The World Stupidity Awards were handed out this weekend. Can someone tell me why this isn't on nationwide TV?

Also this past weekend was TypeCon, a gathering of font lovers in New York. Here's a NY Times story about it.

The BBC tells that Bruce Lee is getting his own statue.

TV Acres informs us that there exist statues for Jackie Gleason, Bob Newhart, Elizabeth Montgomery, Andy Griffith, and Mary Tyler Moore.

Friday, July 22

Check out the awesome Tornado Intercept Vehicle.

Something Awful's Photoshop Phriday looks at superheroes throughout history.

This is probably old news, but bloggers now have the ability to sent their rants into space.

Thursday, July 21

Parasites Control your Brain! Since Heinlein's Puppet Masters we have been plagued by alien mind control. Star Trek gave us the Ceti Eel, the Neural Parasites, and the things that infiltrated Star Fleet (I'm not counting the Trill Symbionts). Babylon 5 had the creepy Drakh Keepers. The DC Universe hosts Starro (who has a thing for faces), while Marvel has to deal with That Which Endures, although Starro showed up there recently. On The Outer Limits, The Invisibles controlled humanity. Stargate gives us the Goa'uld. Dark Skies had the Hive.

And there has been no end to the bad movies.

At City Pages critic David Thompson explains why movies suck. Meanwhile, Geekpress links to this list of 40 things that only happen in the movies.

If you haven't heard, there's a proposal to add two months to Daylight Savings Time.

Wednesday, July 20

A moment of silence, please, for Mister James Doohan.

Randy Dotinga of Wired tells us of a plan to put comics in schools.

Cool Thing to commemorate Apollo 11: A Google map of the Moon.

Ronald Bailey of Reason is sending us dispatches from the 2005 Creation Mega-Conference in Lynchburg VA.

Tuesday, July 19

A moment of silence, please, for comic book artist Jim Aparo.

Future Stuff: BBC reports on X-Prize founder Peter Diamandis' decree that humans have a "moral imperative" to open up space, as well as this mobile Antarctic research base built on skis. Meanwhile the United Arab Emirates has conducted the first successful robot camel jockey race.

Assorted Items: JP Dorigo of Broken Frontier wonders about comics that appear in comics.

Texas' Best Grok asks the question What is Your Battle Cry?

And have you noticed that there's a lot of shit in the news lately? And urine too?

Wait a minute...Brian Eno did what???

Since we're being scatological, here's the Wikipedia entry on feces. You're welcome.

Tommy Toilet sez: Don't Forget to Wipe Your Ass folks!

Monday, July 18

What happens when you combine King Kong and Chess?

Sunday, July 17

Incoming Signals points to Paul Kohlmiller's study of the Galaxy Song by Eric Idle.

Friday, July 15

Currently making the rounds: Thor Rolls a Joint.

Popular Science tells us how much Soapbox Derby technology has changed.