Gravity Lens Weblog

Archive: October 21 - November 10 2003

Monday, November 10

SciFi.com has an interview with author Charles Stross, and links to the site Sequential Ellison which records all of Harlan Ellison's comic book work.

Film Threat sends us to the weblog for the movie Robot Stories.

Recommended Readin': George Dvorsky of Better Humans shows us the path to better living through Transhumanism.

Cathy Young of the Boston Globe chimes in on the Reagan miniseries.

Frederick Long of SOLO HQ gives two cheers for modernity.

Edwin A. Locke of ARI explains the importance of Veterans' Day.

James Randi looks at orbital UFO sightings and other issues in his weekly column.

Dave Barry thinks the idea of a space elevator is hilarious.

Sunday, November 9

The website A Perfect World has scanned and annottated an entire 1971 Sears catalog for your enjoyment. Quite scary.

Friday, November 7

The Raving Atheist informs us that Denmark has officially recognised the worship of the Norse Pantheon as a religion. This is similar to events in recent issues of the Thor comic where those who follow the Thundergod grow in number, demand Thursdays (Thor's day) off, and instigate to a holy war.

There are nice Thor fansites here, here, and here.

I would found a church of based on Jack Kirby's comics, but someone already has.

Action figures in my future: Blackbeard. Dennis Miller. Social Theorist Anthony Giddens.

(The Great Team found the Miller fig.)

Thursday, November 6

Assorted Items: Bow your heads before this graven Lego image of Cthulhu.

The space probe Voyager has left the solar system, and just in the nick of time.

You thought cell phones were annoying? Now idiots can shore up thier unimaginative personalities with a portable electronic sense of humor. Somewhere the inventor of the PDA is crying "I never intended it for evil purposes!"

My copy of the Spectrum 10 art compilation came in yesterday. Many places have it on sale.

Wednesday, November 5

Remember, remember, the fifth of November... Yes, it's Guy Fawkes Day. I'll celebrate by rereading Alan Moore's V for Vendetta (which may finally be made into a film).

Drink up. The world's about to end: I take some small irony-soaked comfort in the fact that as our own sun is trying to incinerate us, and a rogue galaxy is colliding with our own, the BBC plans to produce Douglas Adams' Life, the Universe, and Everything as a radio show.

Wordplay: Tom McMahon linked to a site about antagonyms, words with two contradictory meanings, while The Great Team linked to a site about inversions, words that look the same (or like other words) when turned upside down.

Recommended Readin': Nicholas Carroll of Mindjack deconstructs knowledge.

Chet Raymo of the Boston Globe visits the scientists buried at Westminster Abbey.

Rick Lewis of Philosophy Now wants everyone to be pragmatic.

From last week: Christopher Hitchens reports from the last Concorde flight.

Tuesday, November 4

Assorted Items:

Check out this neat rendition of a space elevator by the artists at Mondolithic.

This past Saturday Florida's WFLA debuted its science fiction radio talk show Sci Fi Zone. It joins the esteemed ranks of such programs as Hour 25, Interstellar Transmissions, Radio SciFi, and Shockwave. Most of these have webcasts, or can be heard on the web-channel Cosmic Landscapes.

May 4th of next year will bring us the second annual National Day of Reason.

Monday, November 3

Recommended Readin': Verity Murphy of the BBC tells of the search for Atlantis.

Dennis Overbye of the NY Times asks "did our universe get lucky?"

Michael Woods of the Post Gazette shows us the timetable for discovering alien life.

Rita Fennelly of Sequential Tart asks Neil Gaiman thirteen questions.

Cathy Young of the Boston Globe looks through the glass ceiling.

Simon Smith of Better Humans ponders the distinction between therapy and enhancement.

Oh, last Friday I forgot to link to James Randi's new column.

This very creepy image of the Cat's Eye Nebula made the rounds this weekend.

Sunday, November 2

It is November.

The God of the Month is Sarasvati.

The Molecule of the Month is S-Adenosyl Methionine.

The Fungus if the Month is Penicillium Notatum.

The Quantum Muse Artist of the Month is Roberto Campus.

The Pagan Chant of the Month is Roots and Wings.

The Needlepoint Stitch of the Month is leaf pattern.

The Washington Post Bartender of the Month is Lamont Proffitt.

Carry on.

Saturday, November 1

Comic Stuff: I went trolling for information on the Marvel character Starlord and found this page from the neat Unofficial Appendix of the Marvel Universe. I also found this cool Dr. Strange fan site, the Encyclopaedia Olympianna (of all the Marvel pantheons), and this comprehensive list of all Marvel countries. Now if I could only find a site for Skull the Slayer.

Recommended Readin': Jacob Sullum of Reason isn't worried about kids' TV habits.

Author Phillip Pullman at the NY Times doesn't believe in ghosts.

Grant Stoddard of Nerve recently took part in a threesome. He did it for science.

Friday, October 31. Happy Halloween.

No, it's not The Joker, but here's a news story about the arrest of a "comedy terrorist." And they say postmodernism is dead...

Recommended Readin': At the NY Times Frank Decaro goes to artist Alex Ross' house.

James Sime of Comic Book Resources looks at the twisted world of comic retailing.

Michio Kaku ponders the possibilities of alien physics (via George Dvorsky).

Victor Davis Hanson of City Journal explains why history has no end.

David Cross of Mr. Show has written a funny send-up of video games at Wired.

On a related note, I learned from a cable ad that a collection of the HBO Tenacious D film shorts that aired on Mr. Show comes out next week. Hooray for advertising!

Thursday, October 30

Locus reports that Hal Clement died Wednesday. The esteemed Harry Stubbs was not only one of first SF authors I read regularly, but he was the first writer I ever met in person.

Maybe I'm getting sentimental, but as the weather gets colder and the nights get longer I have repeatedly found myself wanting to break out and dust off my holiday music. The solstice rotation this year will include some surf, punk, reggae, polka, goth, progressive, and even some klezmer.

Of course, no holiday is complete without those Cthulhu Carols.

Recommended Readin': Ronald Bailey of Reason updates us on adult stem cell research.

Kathleen Parker of the Orlando Sentinel shows us the nessesity of pursuing happiness.

Steven Grant at Comic Book Resources lets assorted creators promote their stuff.

Kerry Lauerman of Salon interviews Camille Paglia.

Richard Anderson of the Modesto Bee explains why creationism shouldn't be taught.

Ivan Amato of Technology Review tells us about new labor saving tools.

Russell Madden at SOLO HQ has written a great piece called You Might be a Fascist...

Michelle Delio of Wired gives us the first installment of her trip down Route 1.

I missed this a couple days ago, but FuturePundit proposes using a recently discovered gene to delay the onset of puberty in children. Hell, I'd settle for tax breaks for parents who can get their kids to shut the hell up in restaurants, malls, etc...

Wednesday, October 29

Stuart Clark of New Scientist tells us about the biggest map of the universe.

A search for pulp science fiction art led me, quite serendipitously, to the Delta 7 Studios site where I found the mp3 downloadable radio show The Adventures of Rosie Retrorocket.

Tuesday, October 28

I have to admit that my favorite of the A-list superheroes is Green Lantern. My younger self ate up the romantic pulp concept of a corps of cosmic police patrolling space. I've related to the different personalites of Hal Jordan, John Stewart and Kyle Rayner. I think the Power Battery is really cool. I can talk about Green Lantern history for hours. In the past week I've been rewarded with a GL story on Justice League as well an episode of Duck Dodgers.

I guess, at some point in my life, I should visit this place.