This will be my last post of links for the next few days unless something really crazy happens. I’ve just found so many interesting things (to me at least). So here goes:
OF Blog of the Fallen has written a really insightful post on book reviews. Any of you who do book reviews and perhaps feel inadequate at times should read it. I’ve taken a lot from it and intend to use some of the things I’ve learned in future reviews (most particularly the part about using quotes from the book as examples).
Cambridge University Press will be releasing a book on Modern Fantasy Literature. Read about it here. The link includes a list of the articles that have been commissioned. This looks really rather promising for anyone interested in reading deeper into the genre.
BlueJoe has written an interesting article about SF and the human condition, addressing the difficulty of bringing non-SF writers into the genre.
Alternately, BeamJockey tracks the entire history of how the idea of ‘antimatter’ got into science fiction. This is really rather interesting when one tries to consider how certain ideas became fixed within genre (regardless of what genre it is).
An example of how Amazon and people have a darn good sense of humor. Trust me, this is funny. Read the product reviews too.
USA Today has an excerpt of an essay by Nathan Fillion (the guy who played Malcom Reynolds in Firefly and Serenity). If you didn’t love him before, you’ll love him now. Firefly is my favorite science fiction TV series. Nothing has ever come close to taking it. For having only one season it is so well put together. Every episode is amazing. Okay, enough of that.
List Universe has a list of the Top 10 Errors in Science Fiction Movies. Generally I would have to agree with all ten points, although given the present state of anti-gravity it is rather silly to think that something like an anti-grav machine using gravitons would never be invented or plausible.
This is why quantum physics makes no sense to anyone that is normal. Basically: by looking at the Universe we may have reset its clock, which means things might die sooner. Read the article to see if it makes more sense to you.
Even if you’re not into SF, you should look at this zoomable view of the Carina Nebula. Simply gorgeous. I’m always amazed at how beautiful space is. Granted, I love this little planet, but space is constantly providing new things to gaze upon.
Mice could hold the cure to cancer? Sounds crazy, but maybe it’ll work. The short story is they’ve bred a mouse that can fight off otherwise lethal doses of cancer cells and as a result they can be used to cure other mice that have cancer. Any form of cancer. It’s more complicated than that, I’m sure, but read the article and come to your own conclusion.
Brain cells and the Universe–are they similar? Have a look at this image and tell me what you think. It’s really rather mind boggling to think about. Maybe we’re more connected to the nature of the universe than we thought.
I’m a guy, so on occasion I have to admire something that looks really cool. Meet the Javelin Speedsled. Concept cars are neat.
Can we break the light speed limit? Well, these guys think they have through quantum tunneling. Time travel and light speed are related concepts, so, this is rather interesting if there is some logic to it.
There you go. Enough links from me for a while.
