Gravity Lens Weblog

Archive April 17 - May 14

Sunday, May 14

Now on newsstands: The Advocate asks "how gay is Superman?"

Friday, May 12

Comic Stuff: Dial B for Blog celebrates its first anniversary with style, while Something Awful's Photoshop Phriday remixes some classic comic book covers.

Thursday, May 11

Future Stuff: SciFiTech shows us a virtual reality umbrella.

Boing Boing links to this neat modular rotating kitchen hub. And let's look at some other Kitchens of the Future.

EV World shows us the Personal Rapid Transport being testing in England.

Wednesday, May 10

Here's a story about the possibility of unstoppable flying robot attacks, and another about slingshotting objects into orbit.

Tuesday, May 9

The BBC informs us that the universe may be the child of a previous one, something Galactus fans have known for decades.

New Scientist hails the coming of the robot tentacle. Such appendages have been a staple of science fiction and comics for years.

Comic Book Resources is, according to Jonah Weiland, ten years old today.

Monday, May 8

I've got some hefty computer issues to cope with, so posting may be sparse over the next few days.

SciFi.com has launched the official site for Who Wants to Be A Superhero? There are audition videos for the first three contestants, who are all women.

Suit Up: Tariq Malik of Space.com tells us of Mars spacesuit testing in North Dakota, while Richard Speck of The Space Review explains why space tourists will ant to go outside.

Here's the Wikipedia entry on spacesuits in fiction, and here's women in spacesuits.

Gizmodo tells us about the Ultimate Fighting Robot League.

Friday, May 5

Boing Boing links to a great video adaptation of one of my favorite short stories, Terry Bisson's They're Made Out of Meat.

Tomorrow is Beverage Day. It is also Astronomy Day, as well as Free Comic Book Day.

Thursday, May 4

The BBC reports on a proposed cloaking device.

It's a gun. It fires teddy bears.

Technovelgy reports that the advertising blimp from Bladerunner has arrived.

Wednesday, May 3

Eric R. Hedman at The Space Review gives us an alternate vision for space exploration.

So does The Onion.

Futurismic links to this ABC Science piece on the possible need for police in space.

Of course, nobody's ever come up with this idea before...

Leonard David of Space.com looks at the possibility of a space superstorm.

The Cartoonist links to the Cybus Corperation. This isn't the first fake website spun off by Doctor Who. And here's a site devoted to building Daleks.

Tuesday, May 2

I'm posting early. I'll be offline on Tuesday. Y'all behave while I'm gone.

The Mondolithic Images of the Week are the very sweet Seven Wonders of the World.

Monday, May 1

It is May.

The God of the Month is the Green Man.

The Molecule of the Month is Linoleic Acid.

Assorted Items: Geoff Willmetts of SF Crowsnest wonders if there should there be more cautionary science fiction tales.

Modern Drunkard lists the ten best drinking movies, examines the role of wine in warfare, and teaches us the fine art of the free drink.

Dial B for Blog gives us the top ten comic book covers featuring Hitler.

Friday, April 28

Funniest thing all week: Bad MySpace Haircuts and the superheroes they resemble.

Gaze upon the world's fastest walking robot.

Gregory Mone of Popular Science gives us the skinny on Warp Drive, including how it would work, and what we'd have to discover or invent to build one.

Thursday, April 27

The English Language now contains one billion words. Klingon is slowly catching up.

Elizabeth Millard of Sci-Tech Today asks Are There X-Men Among Us?

For some unknown reason, Bjorn Carey of LiveScience has decided to tell us about The Painful Realities of Hyena Sex. Aside from having the most unnerving headline of the week, it contains the sentence "Imagine giving birth through a penis."

Wednesday, April 26

The Ian Edginton/D'Israeli adaptation of The War of the Worlds came out today from Dark Horse Comics. It is readable in its entirety online. The same team did the excellent WotW sequel Scarlet Traces, and have a follow up in the works.

Meanwhile the stage tour of Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds is underway in the U.K. Eve of the War has a review.

These Han Solo & Greedo bookends gave me a chuckle.

Kurt Amacker at Cinescape looks at the rise of product placement in comics.

Tuesday, April 25

Gettin' Around: SciFi Tech shows us the sexy Boeing 797 and this neat 3-wheeled BMW.

Gizmodo gives us the mobile office of the future which you can take anywhere.

New Scientist invites us aboard the sleek Superbus. Check out the video at the bottom.

Your home work is to find a copy of The Big Bus.

Monday, April 24

Relax. The headline reads "Interstellar Deathray Not Likely to Hit Earth."

Dial B for Blog gives us a look at tiger-themed characters in comics.

Apparently there was a Robot Parade in Brooklyn over the weekend. I've found no news or photo links yet. If anyone does, please email me (remember to remove the "(AT)") or post'em at the Bar & Grill.

A number of names appeared on the Gravity Lens Frappr Map over the weekend as well, but none of them have icons or locations. They also left messages with links for cheap pharmaceuticals. I've heard about maps getting hacked, but never thought it would happen to me (sob). I will use my admin powers to remove them, but any other advice on what I should do about this would be appreciated.

Friday, April 21

Something Awful's Photoshop Phriday gives us household items as Transformers.

Maria from Metropolis and Gort from The Day the Earth Stood Still (as well as that Ringo Starr album) will be among this year's inductees into the Robot Hall of Fame.

PZ Myers postulates what minute changes in evolution might have led to a completely different type of human in an essay at Forbes.

Thursday, April 20

Recommended Readin' (Nerd Edition): Steven Grant looks at the fetishism of women in comics (among other subjects) at Comic Book Resources.

Robert Roy Britt at LiveScience tells us there may potentially be a lot more geeks in America than we thought.

Charles Shaar Murray of New Statesman tells us how science fiction is redefining its relationship with the mainstream.

Gizmodo shows us the Bibliochaise, a chair that holds a LOT of books.

Wednesday, April 19

Seihin World tells us of the Japanese Space Couture Design Contest, where applicants can submit designs for zero gravity wedding gowns.

Kurt Amacker of Cinescape has part two of his interview with Alan Moore. And Matt Brady of Newsarama tells us of a new wave of product placement in comics.

Geekpress links to the next level of military technology: the Urban Combat Skateboard.

Tuesday, April 18

Wired has a gallery of postage stamps from around the world featuring computers and computer pioneers.

The headline reads "Get ready for a kinky future with your robot sex partner."

And, while we're down there, robotic birth simulators are gaining popularity.

Monday, April 17

Space Stuff: The headline reads "New Space Photo Reveals 'Nothing.'"

Red Orbit looks at the possibility of antimatter propulsion for future space flight.

Taylor Dinerman at the Space Review looks at competition among spaceports, while Richard Speck looks at the concept of personal spacecraft.