Someone GETS it!!!

Writing for Gizmodo, Jesus Diaz,  marvel for a moment of the oft under appreciated on the space walk or EVA:

• I  (Diaz) just came across this 1995 photograph of Michael Gernhardt floating 200-miles over the Earth on a six-hour spacewalk. I zoomed in and looked in awe for a couple of minutes, pondering the chain of events, the Herculean effort that put and kept this man alive in space.

It doesn't happen often, but every now and then someone marvels at the small things that came into existence to allow nay permit humans to survive on one of the harshest environment known to man.  

I am certainly do not intend to put someone down just because they don't have space flight on their mind 24/7.  To be honest also, many today didn't see the photos of Al Shepard doing the sub orbital. Or John Glenn lifting off, or Ed White  floating virtually untethered from his Gemini capsule.  I was floored when I saw the film of White knowing that less than an inch of fabric was all that was keeping him from a grizzly end.

Take a read of Diaz's  Sploid / Gizmodo article.  It is a good read.   HERE

NASA Wants Commercial Robotic Luna Landers

That's right!  NASA is looking at private industry to develop a robotic Luna lander for the purpose of delivering cargo to the Moon's surface. 

In an excerpt from their announcement NASA said that the lander

• "could support commercial activities on the moon while enabling new science and exploration missions of interest to the larger scientific and academic communities."

NASA isn't being to clear on what these companies are supposed to do once they get there, but it has rekindled the debate of who "owns" the Moon.  Back at the beginning of spaceflight, the thought was due to the exorbitant cost, only governments would ever go to the Moon.  Now that commercial is a reality, the question once again is who owns the Moon, can anyone "own" even a piece of it.  Should the be allowed to?

My caveat would be that we would have to live with the decision every time we look up.  That is stretching it a lot but I do make at least a valid point.   Think about it.

New Scientist online has a good piece on this HERE

MacGuffin Vs. Bogocity Generators

Cory at Boing Boing points us toward Author Rudy Rucker's blog. The point of interest is a device used in science fiction called a "bogocity generator". As Rucker's blog entry notes:

• filmmakers use the term “MacGuffin” to stand for some object that various characters in the tale are competing for. A secret paper, a formula, a stunning gem, a statue....

But it is a bit different in Fantasy and Science Fiction. Again from Rucker's blog:

• (There is often) a special device or procedure or organism with special powers that affect the flow of the story.

From here the writer works backwards.  Often an object is introduced to the story, and only then put forward  an idea or gimmick that will make the effect or object possible.  Or with tongue firmly in cheek a Gogocity Generator...

The really funny thing is that until you know of it, you don't realize it is happening.  Very much like the Wilhelm Scream. 

I would take a moment and read the Rucker Blog entry

Are Antiques Extint?

Here is a startling concept that I was exposed to while watching a video on hacker-space mods on typewriters.

 The initial fear was that the typewriter itself was on the verge of extinction.

Really when you think about it, that is a fair assessment of the plight of the typewriter. However a curious thing was said by one of the persons in the video. He said that there are no antiques anymore.

 What a curious statement! You look around and the world is full of them, that is until you realize where and from when they came from. Most of what we consider real antiques today are heirlooms that someone cherished and passed down. Most are from the 1800 and the early part of the last century.

Now I understand that to be a true antique one of the criteria is that the item should for the most part be old. That's fair. But as you get nearer and nearer to the 21st the antiques are less an heirloom and more manufactured, closer to collectible than true antiques.

Now as the 21st moves along valued items are the newest high tech gizmo and not something you would or is of value to pass on.

 The ipads, ultrabooks and smartphones that are coveted today will eventually age and fail to operate and ultimately become part of an ever increasing pile of techno-trash. It would seem that indeed the days of the heirloom - antique are at an end.

Here is the original video

 

Is It Time to Rename the Moon?

Here is something that always kinda puzzled me. According to a small article in Boing Boing:

• Jack Pate says: "'The Moon' is a stupid name for our moon. As a species, we should all come together and come up with something even marginally more creative. The planet Jupiter has 63 moons. None of them is named 'Moon.' This has got to be the biggest astronomical gaffe in the Universe."

I know it is a name out of antiquity, but in today's "enlightened" time when we know that other astral bodies have moons that is comes of a bit odd that the Earth is the only body in the solar system that HAS a generic name for it's own satellite.

Anyone?

Psychotronic Childhood - Learning from B-movies, by Colson Whitehead

reader/listener Nelson sends in a nostalgic look at formative B movies called A Psychotronic Childhood - Learning from B-movies, by Colson Whitehead, from the pages of the NewYorker. Mr. Whitehead's musings are evocative and funny, for I hazard that we have all been exactly in his situation. For me of course it was rushing home from high school to quickly slather on bread some mayo and salami, then to sequester myself for the balance of the afternoon to watch whatever fare being offered up. Mostly at that time it was Dark Shadows, but PBS wonder of wonders would often have Dr.Who or something in that ilk...one never quite knew which. Check the NewYorker story here.

Administrative Leave for What? You have got to be Kidding

Kallamis has been a reader of this blog for some time and often shares great comment and observations with the rest of us, in the comments section of the BMU blog.   As a general rule I do no not pass on a reader's comments in deference to their privacy.  But there are those times that a comment made here really does contain some interesting points or observations.  Oh an Kallamis said go for it! lol

Case in point, Kallamis brings this to our attention:

• In March 2012, a middle school teacher of 14 year olds in South Carolina was placed on administrative leave for reading excerpts of Ender’s Game to his students, after a parent complained that the book was pornographic, primarily based on "curse words" in the text.  The parent also asked the local police to file criminal charges, which the police have declined to do.  The teacher had also read to the students from Devil’s Paintbox by Victoria McKernan and Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case by Agatha Christie.

Kallamis opinions - The World is Insane.

I am inclined to agree.  Thanks Kallamis

 

BMU # 273 with stories by Harris Tobias & Steve Carter

Beam Me Up 273 saw new additions and just plain good stuff. I start with an excellent quote from Isaac Asimov that Courtney posted on the Beam Me Up Facebook site. Next, I play two stories this week. First from a story in the newest edition of Antipodean. From Steve Carter comes a different twist on an old sci-fi time travel theme “Time Enough” The second story has to be one of the strangest alien encounter stories I have ever read. I play Harris Tobias’ Elko.

I have discovered a new anime series in my travels around Youtube and found that it was playing on SyFy. Durahrara is a spin on the myth of the grim reaper and a mixture of the European headless horseman and their ilk. However the spin and the handle make the series much more entertaining and modern. I found the opening track on one of the short films and play it for the program today. Very nice and catchy. Overall its a very good series for those that don’t go into the giant robots that litter the main outlets. Give this one a shot.

From this week’s blog @ wrfrbeameup.blogspot.com: Researchers at the University of Toronto have used a combination of synthesized DNA and semiconductors to create a nano-scale antenna that harnesses light. arth at one point in its early history had more than one moon. The second moon was most likely very small and may have collided with its larger Luna companion. Have you heard the story of the two NASA logos? No? You won’t believe it! The Juno mission to Jupiter launched Friday August 5. A film of the launch can be viewed on NASA. The primary goal of the mission is to understand the origin and evolution of the massive gas planet. Oh you will just HAVE to check out The Mercury Men. A new Web series made for under $10,000 in Pittsburgh with ray guns, evil aliens and even a brain in a jar. It’s a modern homage to the black-and-white serials of the early 1900s. Space X has petitioned NASA to combine two upcoming missions of their Dragon launch vehicle, one to rendezvous with the ISS and next to dock with it. And there is much more on the blog as well as the podcast.

So.....Just What IS Up for the Future of Manned Spaceflight?

So as NASA stands with it's collective pants around would be ankles...what IS the consensus on manned spaceflight....at least as far as the WEST is concerned? Well lets take a look at the an article in TECH Republic for a couple of laughs huh?

The article points first to an AP feed that quotes Apollo 11 commander Neal Armstrong and the first US astronaut, Mercury's John Glenn who both are leading a group of critics who say that the U.S. space program is ignoring a long-held belief that there should be a backup plan. Indeed, the end of the Shuttle program leaves a manned flight vacuum.

Ouch! I think NASA just got spanked!

The WSJ isn't taking it much easier. They point out that the International Space Station now depends solely on Russia. If the U.S. or ESA wants a lift to the facility it is Russia and its venerable Soyuz. Russia now has "a monopoly on manned space flight." The director of the European Space Agency, is quoted as saying that the situation is “uncomfortable” and a “collective mistake.”

Smack Smack

Charles Bolden the current NASA Administrator, is quoted saying "I’m here to tell you that American leadership in space will continue for at least the next half-century because we have laid the foundation for success "

Foundation huh? That is the way he see it?!!! So what happened to the HOUSE JFK built? Yep, that's right, Bolden and his class of backwards thinking have torn it down to the foundation that's what. Bolden is proud of being part of the elite astronaut corp. and I am flabergasted that he is proud of the present state of things.

Bolden says NASA should get out of the low Earth orbit delivery system and leave that to the private sector. NASA needs to set its sights higher. OK granted NASA needs to look to future exploration but at the same time he is placing manned spaceflight in the hands of Space X Lockheed Martin and Boeing.

There is much more. Check out the Tech Republic article here

NASA's Final Shuttle: The End of an Error?

Xnewsman sends in this great article from time that holds an unflinching eye on the last Shuttle flight and the end to the program.

From the Time article:

• Friday, the 135th and last shuttle mission is scheduled to be launched, ending a program in which five ships carried 777 passengers into space, traveling a collective half a billion miles

As the article points out, the shuttle program built the International Space Station, launched the Magellan, Ulysses and Galileo probes to Venus, the sun and Jupiter. Plus the truly shining accomplishment has to be placing the Hubble Space telescope in orbit and returning to service it several times.

But then there was also these.... The $500 million price tag every time one took off, the months of maintenance and prep work needed between flights, the thermal tiles the ships would shed like dry leaves and finally the loss of 14 astronauts.

The shuttle was envisioned as a way for workers in space to commute to work, it was supposed to reduce the cost of delivering material to orbit to a tenth of the cost and each shuttle was supposed to last 100 launches. The truth is it never became a commuter anything, cost over runs and delays plus losses managed to increase the cost of launching to a point that the only customers to use the shuttle was NASA and the military. Shuttles never can close to the overly optimistic 100 flights. Discovery which was the most flown managed only 38 trips in 28 years.

Any system has it good and bad traits, the venerable shuttles were no exception.

There is some wonderful history and photography in the Time article. Read more by clicking here

Mark Wilson calls SYFY Heartless and Pointless

Mark Wilson writing in his Science Fiction & Fantasy Blog about the recent cancellation of Stargate Universe had some really harsh words for SYFY.

In his article Mark stated:

• This was a heartless mistake by the network--a mistake by which Syfy elected to announce to its viewers that it's willing to foot the bill for whimsical dramedies and pointless reality shows, but not actual science fiction.
• With the death of SGU, replaced on its schedule by cooking shows, wrestling, and light fantasies, Syfy is now entering a period where it will experience more and more difficulty convincing science-fiction fans that it should be taken seriously.

Yep, pretty harsh. I have been saying for awhile now that it was really difficult to call SYFY a true platform of serious science fiction. For me the writing was on the wall when Farscape was summarily axed. The pattern now should be obvious even to the most catatonic now. Stargate, Farscape, Battlestar Galactica and now Stargate Universe and these are just the most obvious. Difficult to take serious, Mark? Impossible! They can not even bring themselves to call the network Sci Fi and do it with a straight face! Ghosts and wraslin, if that's your bag, you will love SYFY, Science fiction fans will have to look elsewhere.

Mark's article

Comment: Is the Human Race Going Extinct? WTF!

Nope, not science fiction but so damn bizarre that it could be!

Dan brings in an article is so bizarre that one has to wonder if Homo-Sapiens as a race have reached their evolutionary pinnacle at some point in the distant past and are now, due to some sort of damage to it's genetic blue-print, about to go extinct.

What you ask could have set me off? Well to be honest, it was probably one of the most bizarre articles I have read in some time.

Here is how it goes. Police in Costa Mesa California received a call about a car partially blocking a driveway. Oh and did I mention that said vehicle reeked?

It seems a California woman befriended a homeless woman and let her sleep in her car discovered that said homeless person died rather unexpectedly. Not knowing where to go for advice, our good Samaritan drove around for months with nothing but a box of baking soda , for odor control (if it works in a fridge why not for a decomposing corpse in a hot car?). However when officers arrived on scene, the stench was quite noticeable. This led them to investigate further where they found a leg poking from under a blanket. Under the blanket they found the partially mummified remains ( about 30 pounds of skin and bones....and no I refuse to go there). No signs of foul (nope still ain't going there) play were discovered however. Police are investigating the driver however. (oh hell yes! at least one question.....what the hell is wrong with you!?)

Now I know this isn't the norm, People are still as a general rule fine, but when things like this happen you have to at least ask yourself if something is badly broken and humanity is doomed.

Article in BDN/AP

Stephen Fry Kinetic Typography - Language

Ahhh, science fiction it ain't. But I just love to hear this man speak. So, sit back and enjoy as Stephen Fry lambastes the language police. Oh and the graphics be fun to.

Scientist teleport photon 10+ miles!

Ok, if you were impressed when scientists claimed they could teleport certain sub-atomic particles a foot or so, you have to be jumping up and down with the newest news release that says that photons can be teleported 10 miles.

Now to be honest we are talking quantum physics that says photons can, in some ways, occupy two places at once. When one photon gets entangled with another, whatever happens to one of those particles also happens to it's "entangled partner". So in truth we are not really talking about physical teleportation but instant transferring of information concerning the state of the first photon to that of the second in the entangled pair. So it's the information making the jump. (Sorry Kirk)

This is what we have been talking about for years now starting to become a reality. The Ansible or whatever you want to call it, is becoming a very real possibility. Instant communication anywhere no matter how far, due to photon entanglement.

Does this mean that something like StarTrek's transporter is impossible? In theory, not totally. The transporter scans, then turns those scans into information. Now that information has to be received by an entangled photon array of some sort, so this showing up where-ever they want to on planet...would be impossible.

But we are also talking about a whole magnitude of greater density. At present they are using two entangled photons. Each sub atomic particle can have 4 states..(not sure about photons though) which leaves us with a four bit data stream. Even for computers, no matter how fast, four bits isn't going far. But that's another conversation.

The article is here, but there really isn't much more HERE

However IO9 has a piece here

Comments From Wesley Parish on his story

Wesley Parish just wrote me with some follow up info on his short story - A Man, A Plan, A Shattered World, that I thought was fascinating, so I thought I would share it with you

• Just some points you can pass on to any of your callers who ask about the story:
• 
  
• The title is derived from a book called "Man with a Shattered World" by the Russian neurospychologist A.R. Luria, and indeed the central "bits" of the story - the rifle bullet in the brain, the messed up memory, the man trying to survive in spite of it all - are derived from that book. The guy in the book is an inspiration. He's getting better, in spite of his messed-up life - he can piece together memories that prevent him from believing fake memories, he can remember the videos of the attack; he's just in despair and doesn't see it. And it's based on a dream I had. so I thought I'd inflict it on the world, and I'm delighted that other people have enjoyed it. Wesley Parish
  

50 Great Movies Every Science Geek Needs to See

Amber Johnson sends in a post on the Online Degree Programs blog, with an interesting theme. Not just the top 50 science fiction films, but a broader list of movies that would appeal to the science geek in all of us.

From the article:

• The fifty films ... whether documentaries or pure flights of fancy, delve into the often complex issues surrounding scientific discovery, exploration and alteration, educating as they entertain.

Coooooooool! Check it out...movies like

• Gattaca
• Andromeda Strain
• Fantastic Voyage
• 2001: A Space Odyssey
  

just to name a few of the listed (and ummm ahhhh some of my all time favs)

But its not just science fiction

• Life Story Watson and Crick’s journey to unraveling DNA
• A Beautiful Mind brilliant mathematician John Nash struggle with mental illness
  

and so many more. I love just browsing through the titles....there is a curious lack of some that I feel would have made a great addition to the list:

• Flowers for Algernon (the movie was called Charlie with Cliff Robertson) and
• Testament
  

to name two and that is a conversation I would really like to start. Look through the complete list. Be honest, just because a movie entertained you doesn't make it a great movie. I saw both Transformers and all the Terminator movies...I wouldn't put them on the list however. The two that I did add were a couple of movies that I found extraordinarily upsetting and moving, but not high on action or special effects but movies that you find yourself saying....please...make it stop.

So suggestions for additions? Subtractions?

DVD Review: G I Joe

GI Joe

The premise of this movie is that there are secret military organizations and then there is an ultra secret outfit call GI Joe.

Being top top secret -- Joes have access to the coolest hardware and weapons. And since they are so secret, they fight the most ruthless ulta evil villains on the planet.

That is pretty much the movie - two regular field operatives from NATO are thrust into conflict between ultra villains of COBRA and the GI Joes. Cobra is bent on destroying the world's infrastructure by spreading nano-tech that eats any metal. Joes, employing equally cool tech is set on finding and destroying cobra's super secret lair.

So that is the basics for the movie...lets look at the dvd

First despite what the writer and director would have you believe, GI Joe is a film for Joe fans. I count it as science fiction loosely because of the tech and that it is supposed to be set in the "not too distant future". But marketing this movie as a film for the general audience is plain disingenuous. Even in the director's commentaries after they had gone to great pains to try and convince us that its a movie for everyone they go into great detail how this or that would upset the joe fans or this was different or that was. Not being a Joe fan, I couldn't call them on any of that, so who were those comments aimed at? Yep, Joe fans.

Then like the complaints from the fantastic four directors complaining about bad cgi, they bust on their own CGI
Now, first off, there are some damn good action sequences. Plus the tech is techie goodness, but the end effect is ehhhhhhhhhhh. It is a by the numbers action flick dealt to the lowest common denominator right down to that abysmal everyone in a line walking and talking. And what is the director most proud of? Writing the movie on the fly and shooting it all in 82 days! They are proud of making a bad movie!!! And they brag about it! And then complain when some of the movie is junk!!! Is someone really going to hire these geniuses to make a part 2? I mean really, why bother to tell us that it SHOULD had taken the best part of 2 years to write and maybe EIGHT months to shoot properly and brag about how to do it in 82. This is truly one of those times when I wish I had not listened to the special commentary.

So, overall, GI Joe is pretty mindless action written and shot on the fly, mostly green screen cgi. No matter what they say, its a movie for Joe fans. Non fans might get wowed by the action sequences but the plot is so comic book that it will leave the general audience cold. The only dvd special extra is the director's comments that will leave you stunned as to the level of bad movie making and proud of the fact.

Now I will suspect that I will get the well how many Hollywood movies have you made...and I say don't bother. If you are convinced that this is a great movie, we don't have anything to talk about and second I don't have to be a structural engineer to know that eventually the Leaning tower of Pisa is going to fall over some day.

I would give this a 5, for making a good FAN movie

Beautiful shot of Halley's Comet nucleus

The blog "The Daily Galaxy" posted this stunning picture from the ESA's Giotto spacecraft of the nucleus of Halley's Comet when it made a flyby in 1986.

For those of you that had a chance to see this year's Orionid meteor shower, you should know that those bright little bits are in fact the material from comet Halley from it's last pass through the Solar System. It's next appearance comes in 2061 as it makes it's 75 year round trip of Sol.

I can't help but be awed by the scope. Here we are steaming a round our local star which is speeding hellbent through our own local neighborhood and all this grandeur is pulled along for the ride! I know a lot of the mystique comes from being hardly smarter than a bag of hammers, but who can not squeeze out an "oh wow!" during the shower, knowing that we are plowing through the leavings from the creation of the solar system.

Anyone feeling small?

Quasar Dragon on Hiatus!

Our very good friend Dave Tackett writes in his blog of online science fiction resources QuasarDragon:

• QuasarDragon will be going on hiatus for an indeterminate amount of time. However, I will still be sending links to SF Signal so please check them out for free fiction links (e-fiction, audio fiction, comics, etc) as well as all the other cool stuff they regularly post.

All of us at BMU wish Dave the best and hope to see him back soon.

Blade Runner Voice Over: Director Frank Darabont hated it too!

Here is a short moment where director Frank Darabont says aloud what we all thought when we first were beat about the head and shoulders by the studio voice over project of the move Blade Runner.



Darabont The Shawshank Redemption and next year's Fahrenheit 451 adaptation