Gravity Lens Weblog

Gravity Lens Archive November 1 -22, 2005

Tuesday, November 22

I love a good epic-scale conspiracy, like the Four Day Time Cube, or the claim that Christianity wasn't responsible for the Dark Ages, but Clifford Pickover links to The Phantom Time Hypothesis, which suggests that the years 614-911 A.D. never happened.

Harlan Ellison will be next year's SFWA Grand Master.

Here's VRMag, a Quicktime/Flash/Java-intensive site dedicated to wraparound panoramic photographs and the folks who take them.

LiveScience gives us the Top 10 Creatures of Cryptozoology.

Monday, November 21

A moment of heavily reverbed silence, please, for guitarist Link Wray.

Pete Goodrich of Your Mom's Basement gives us a brief history of Jonah Hex.

Space Stuff: Astrobiology looks at plans to send robotic probes back to the moon.

Red Orbit reports on research into radiation-proof computers for use in deep space.

For something a little more ambitious, Warren Ellis links to The Lucifer Project: a very detailed proposal to ignite Saturn into a sun.

Friday, November 18

Steven Grant at Comic Book Resources looks at the relative values of Art versus Craft.

I forgot to post this yesterday: a British reality show currently in production apparently leads the contestants to believe that they are in space.

Thursday, November 17

Technovelgy introduces us to our new robot bartender.

Tales of Future Past has an excellent feature on Future Music.

Planets that have been blown up: Krypton. Altair IV. Alderaan. Genesis. Veridian III. Xanshi. D'Bari IV. Skaro. Gallifrey. And, of course, Earth.

Here's the Star Trek.com page on Planet Killers. Here's the Wikipedia entry on the same subject. Here's Michael Wong's overview of planet killing. Here's the Sam's Archive page on Geocide in Fiction.

Someone turned the Supreme Dalek into a receptionist.

Wednesday, November 16

Kurt Amacker of Cinescape measures The Value of Comics as Literature (or Lack Thereof).

The headline reads "Lemur Species Named After John Cleese."

Tuesday, November 15

The Mondolithic Images of the Week are more neat future visions of NASA.

Recommended Readin': Momus of Wired comments on the realities of future design.

John Partipilo of the Jackson Sun differentiates between Nerd and Geek.

Bradley Mason Hamlin of Retrocrush puts forth The Aquaman Argument.

Taylor Dinerman of The Space Review ponders a possible British space policy.

Gather 'round fanboys: it's Starbuck vs. Starbuck.

Monday, November 14

Law & Order: Discovery briefs us on new clues in the Jack the Ripper case, while Technovelgy hails the advent of AI Software 'Robot' Lawyers.

Friday, November 11

The Government has decided to follow up its ban on human cloning by regulating another technology that doesn't exist yet.

Space.com forcasts a modest Leonid meteor shower for next week.

I'll be gone most of the weekend, so don't forget that Sunday is November 13, anniversary of the day Felix Unger was asked to remove himself from his place of residence.

Thursday, November 10

LiveScience's excellent feature on evolution science gives us the Top Ten Missing Links.

Wednesday, November 9

Keeping with today's theme, SF Signal notised that The Guardian had posted the poll results for the Top 20 geek novels. I don't know what unnerves me more: The fact that I've read 18 of them, or the fact that I outright hate three of them. I'll let you guess which.

Scientists are fighting over the Leap Second.

Other Geek Stuff: Kurt Amacker of Cinescape visits a New Orleans comic book shop.

Steven Grant looks at wrestling as a possible business model for saving the comics industry over at Comic Book Resources.

Space Ref informs us that they have a science fiction movie night down at the South Pole.

Tuesday, November 8

Recommended Space Readin': Someone by the name of Hans L.D.G. Starlife has posted a piece at Space Review calling for a new “myth” for space that emphasizes not science but the spreading of life through the universe.

Tony Phillips at Space.com tells us about the similarities between rockets and guitars.

Greg Klerkx of New Scientist Space proposes disbanding NASA (subscription only).

Scott Edelman at Sci Fi Weekly looks at a new book about films from the '70's, while Jesse Walker reviews a new DVD of '70's commercials over at Mindjack.

Since that decade is making a dreaded comeback (news that isn't all bad), you might as well visit Stuck in the '70's.

Monday, November 7

A moment of silence, please, for author John Fowles. The Magus has been one of my favorite novels since high school.

Steve Tomkins of the BBC gives us The Rules of Sarcasm.

Tommy Marx of Broken Frontier looks back at what Dr. Fredric Wertham thought about DC Comics "Big Three."

Saturday, November 5

Here's an interesting column by Erik Larsen over at Comic Book Resources about comic characters that have, or don't have, iconic faces.

Remember, Remember, The Fifth of November...

This, by the way, is the 400th anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot.

Friday, November 4

Roz Kaveney of The Independent interviews Alan Moore.

Butch Hutchens of The Monterey County Herald fondly remembers, and updates us on, the TV heroes of our youth.

Anger GOOD!

Thursday, November 3

BBC reports that scientists have figured out that one and a half million Chinese men are direct descendants of one guy.

Y'all know I like fake science fiction documentaries. Here's a promo page for Alec Gillis' very cool looking Worlds: a Mission in Discovery.

Wednesday, November 2

A moment of silence, please, for Star Trek producer Michael Piller.

In a move which cannot possibly have a happy ending, the Scorpions are about to tour the Middle East.

I held my tongue on yesterday's news that Harry Potter had been voted the best fantasy hero in a UK Sci Fi Channel poll, but I mention it now as it dovetails nicely with the fact that Axl Rose has been voted the Second Coolest Old Person by readers of the teen rag Ellegirl.

A secret cold war underground city in England has been put up for sale.

Tuesday, November 1

I'm Back!

Spent the last two days trolling around the northeast. Went up to Mass MoCA to see the Cai Guo-Qiang installation Inopportune Stage One (more shots) and Stage Two. Also swung into Lake George in time to see them shut down the entire town for the season. Also hit Dr. Morbid's Haunted House. Monday was a trip to Howe Caverns, which is very cool.

It is November.

The Molecule of the Month is Carbon Monoxide.

The God of the Month is Eris, "the Lady of Sorrow," known by the Romans as Discordia.

She's the matron deity of Discordianism, which inspired The Illuminatus! Trilogy. She was also played as a goth chick on the Hercules show by the yummy Meighan Desmond.

Malene Teplitsky of the Toronto Star celebrated Halloween with a list of 100 things that make us scream.