Link dump for 20120325

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10 Science Fiction Books That I Love (And You Will At Least Like A Lot) | LitReactor (List, Recommendation, SciFi, SF, Reading)
3D-printed adapter bricks allow interconnection between ten kids' construction toys - Boing Boing (Fabber, BoingBoing, Tinkertoy, Lego, Toy, Construction, ConstructionKit)
Golan sez, "The Free Universal Construction Kit is a collection of adapter bricks that enable complete interoperability between ten popular children’s construction toys. By allowing any piece to join to any other, the Kit encourages totally new forms of intercourse between otherwise closed systems—enabling the creation of previously impossible designs, and ultimately, more creative opportunities for kids. As with other grassroots interoperability remedies, the Free Universal Construction Kit implements proprietary protocols in order to provide a public service unmet, or unmeetable, by corporate interests."
A camera that peers around corners (w/ video) (Tech, Watch, Watch.Tech, Laser, Camera)
In December, MIT Media Lab researchers caused a stir by releasing a slow-motion video of a burst of light traveling the length of a plastic bottle. But the experimental setup that enabled that video was designed for a much different application: a camera that can see around corners.
A Definition of Author Platform | Jane Friedman (Publishing, Definition, Platform, Author)
Platform is one of the most difficult concepts to explain, partly because everyone defines it a little differently. / But one thing that I know for sure: Editors and agents are attracted to authors who have this thing called “platform.”
A gay, teenage Superhero? What a novel idea! -- Prism Comics (YA, YoungAdult, Review, Fiction, Prose, Novel, Superhero)
Hero by Perry Moore is such a fun, enjoyable book that I found myself constantly smiling throughout my reading it. Billed as a young adult novel, Hero tells the very comic-book-inspired story of a teenager named Thom (yes, Thom with an “H”) and his exciting, frightening and courageous journey as a new superhero - a new superhero who just happens to also be gay. Not only is this a wonderful novel filled with great archetypical superhero homages galore, but it is also a true “coming out” story for a new generation. / In fact, calling this book a "young adult novel" seems to diminish its power - like saying comic books are for kids - as Hero features a densely plotted storyline that is extremely engrossing, tremendously eventful and very meaningful to anyone who has ever loved superheroes, comic books, being gay, or just a plain old, well-crafted, good story. (Plus, being a "young adult novel" lover myself, I don’t believe I have ever read a book meant for the young'uns with as many...
Are You Committing These E-mail Sins? | Jane Friedman (Marketing, Author, Spam, Email)
I encourage authors to use e-mail as one of the most powerful tools in their marketing arsenal. / But with great power comes great responsibility, right? / One of the quickest ways to turn a potential reader (or influencer!) into an enemy is to send an unsolicited message via e-mail or a social network.
Art of the Genre: Art of the Iconic Female #1; Dejah Thoris -- Black Gate (Art, DejaThoris, BlackGate)
Astronomers discover 'emerald-cut' galaxy (Galaxy, Astronomy)
An international team of astronomers has discovered a rare square galaxy with a striking resemblance to an emerald cut diamond.
Becoming Supermassive! -- New Insights into HyperGrowth of Black Holes (Astronomy, Physics, BlackHole)
Being a Tax-Wise Author & Writer, Part One - Curiosity Quills Press (Advice, Taxes, Money, Writing)
Books Read: Henry Kuttner’s The Dark World -- Lawrence Person's Futuramen (Fantasy, Review, Book)
Breakthrough: A cloaking device that could conceal weapons from magnetic security scanners (Invisibility, io9, CloakingDevice, ElectroMagnetic, Magnetism, Watch.Tech, Tech, Watch)
A group of electrical engineer working in Slovakia and Spain have prototyped a device that could become a cheap way to hide objects from magnetic fields. This is an interesting innovation because many security scanners and other devices use magnetic fields to detect hidden objects, whether a concealed weapon or a piece of metal lodged inside your body. But now, it seems that people might be able to use this device to create "cloaks" around objects they want to conceal from magnetic scanners.
Can Superheroes Work In Novels? -- Byrne Robotics (Forum, Fiction, Prose, Novel, Superhero)
Can You Self-Publish Your Way to a Big Deal? Guest Post from Lindsay Buroker | David Gaughran (Bridge, Publishing.Tradtional, Publishing.Self, Publishing, SelfPublishing)
Self-published author Lindsay Buroker was approached recently by 47North, Amazon’s SF/F/H imprint. Today Lindsay is here to explain how you can best position yourself to attract an offer. And, despite what you may think, it’s not all about sales. / Self-publishing offers a lot of advantages over the traditional path: freedom to write whatever you choose and price however you like; real-time sales figures; direct connection with readers; complete creative control over things like covers; and, of course, the famous 70% royalty rate (and more again if you sell direct). / Despite all these advantages, many self-publishers are keen to leverage their success into a publishing deal.
Commissioning art for a book cover? [Archive] - Absolute Write Water Cooler (HowTo, Forum, Commission, Cover, Book, Art)
Copy Editing Is Not Exactly a Breeze -- Inksnatcher (Writing, Copyediting)
Copy editing is not exactly a breeze; it takes more than simply knowing what “looks right.” I can say this with all truthfulness because I used to believe that my “looks right” decisions were enough to turn sloppy copy into something perfect. I was wrong.
Detection of cosmic effect may bring universe's formation into sharper focus (Technique, Measurement, Distance, Astronomy)
The first observation of a cosmic effect theorized 40 years ago could provide astronomers with a more precise tool for understanding the forces behind the universe's formation and growth, including the enigmatic phenomena of dark energy and dark matter.
Exotic metamaterials will change optics (Infrared, Hologram, Optics, Light, Watch.Tech, Tech, Watch, MetaMaterial)
Duke University engineers believe that continued advances in creating ever-more exotic and sophisticated man-made materials will greatly improve their ability to control light at will.
Extra Ether | Jane Friedman (Amazon, Ebook, News, Publishing)
FastPencil Powers Publishing for Authors, Publishers and Enterprise. End-to-end Publishing Platform: write, edit, publish and sell your book and ebook with just a few clicks. - FastPencil (Tool, Ebook, Publisher, Business, Package.Paid, Free, Package, Epublishing, WebSite, Writing, Collaboration, Publishing.Self, SelfPublising, Publishing)
FastPencil: Speedy Self-Publishing for Authors (Epublishing, WebSite, Collaboration, Writing, Publishing.Self, Publishing, SelfPublishing, Review)
Gamers Mourn "Lost Tolkien" M.A.R. Barker | GeekDad | Wired.com (2012, Fantasy, 1970s, Game.RPG, RPG, Designer, Game, Obit)
First, E. Gary Gygax died in 2008. Then, a year later, in 2009, the passing of Dave Arneson. / Now, we mourn the death of author, game designer and world-builder Professor M. A. R. Barker. / Barker, who passed away a few days ago on March 16, was a Fulbright Scholar, linguist, and accomplished academic and science fiction author who influenced both Gygax and Arneson, co-creators of Dungeons & Dragons. The German magazine Spiegel called him the “lost Tolkien.” / Barker self-published his role-playing game Empire of the Petal Throne in 1974, the same year D&D; came out. Gygax and his company TSR were so impressed that in 1975, they published a version of Barker’s game along with a version of his campaign setting, the fantasy world of Tékumel.
Golden Girl (Review, Novel, Superhero)
How to Identify Top Websites & Blogs in Your Category | Jane Friedman (Platform, Writing, HowTo, HowTo.Find, Find, WebSite, Blog)
I often advise new bloggers to identify the top blogs or communities for their target audience, and build relationships with those bloggers. (Don’t see blogging as a competition. It’s a community.) / It’s also a good exercise for an author who wants to build platform or promote a book to the right audience. / But then the question arises, how do you identify the top websites and blogs in your category or for your audience? / Here are free methods and resources you can use. Don’t rely on any single resource—try them all. You’ll get different results.
How to Use Pinterest to Market Your Book | WritersDigest.com (Publishing.Self, SelfPublishing, Publishing, Book, HowTo, Marketing)
How traditional publishing hurts scientific progress | KurzweilAI (Change, Fail, Publishing.Traditional, Publishing, Progress, Science)
A battle that has raged for over a decade between advocates of open science and publishers of traditional scientific journals is coming to a head, says Michael Eisen, co-founder of the open access publisher Public Library of Science. / Eighty five percent of published papers remain locked behind subscription pay walls, accessible only to those affiliated with universities and other large research institutions. / But new journals that make everything they publish freely available are growing rapidly. And government efforts to make the results of all publicly funded scientific and medical research accessible to everyone are expanding, despite industry-backed legislative efforts to end them. / Traditional scientific publishing also retards scientific progress. To build a system of scientific publishing that optimally serves researchers, health care workers, teachers and the public, we have to sever the acts of publication and assessment.
Hypervelocity planets are zooming out of our galaxy at warp speed (io9, Nomad, Planet, BlackHole, Astronomy)
If you have Comcast Add another DNS (HowTo, Alternative, OpenDNS, Google, Comcast, DNS)
Comcast DNS has frequently has problems with Nextbigfuture.com / OpenDNS and Google Public DNS both offer free and faster DNS support. / Switching to Google Public DNS is not only more reliable it also makes surfing faster on you android phone, iphone or computer.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull -- Red Letter Media (RedLetterMedia, Video, Review, Film, Movie, IndianaJones)
Judgment Day | Superhero Novels (Publishing.Self, SelfPublishing, SelfPublished, SuperheroNovels, Fiction, Review, Prose, Novel, Superhero)
Looking at quantum gravity in a mirror (Momentum, Mass, Experiment, Gravity, QuantumGravity, Quantum, Physics)
Einstein's theory of gravity and quantum physics are expected to merge at the Planck-scale of extremely high energies and on very short distances. At this scale, new phenomena could arise. However, the Planck-scale is so remote from current experimental capabilities that tests of quantum gravity are widely believed to be nearly impossible. Now an international collaboration between the groups of Caslav Brukner and Markus Aspelmeyer at the University of Vienna and Myungshik Kim at Imperial College London has proposed a new quantum experiment using Planck-mass mirrors. Such an experiment could test certain predictions made by quantum gravity proposals in the laboratory. The findings will be published this week in Nature Physics.
Masked and Anonymous (ShortStory, Anthology, Review, Superhero)
Mass Effect 3 and Goat Guy Provide Possible Solutions for the Fermi Paradox (FTL, Solution.Possible, Solution, AI, Civilization, Alien, FermisParadox, MassEffect)
[The Plot of "Mass Effect"] may well be the answer to [Fermi's Paradox] ... [An] advanced and ancient race of artificially intelligent machines 'harvests' all sentient, space-faring life in the Milky Way [periodically]. [Otherwise they] lie dormant out in the depths of intergalactic space. They have constructed and positioned an ingenious web of technological devices (including [gates]) and habitats within the Galaxy that effectively sieve through the rising civilizations, helping the successful flourish and multiply, ripening them up for eventual culling ... [It provides solutions to the Fermi Paradox]: a) The most truly advanced interstellar species spends most of its time out of the Galaxy in hibernation. b) Purging all other sentient (space-faring) life every 50,000 years puts a stop to any great spreading across the Galaxy. c) Sentient, space-faring species are inevitably drawn into the technological lures and habitats left for them, and so are less inclined to explore.
MIT Designing cheaper, quieter and fuel-efficient supersonic biplanes (Watch.Tech, Tech, Watch, Design, AeroSpace, Supersonic)
Qiqi Wang (MIT), Rui Hu (MIT) and Antony Jameson (Stanford) have shown through a computer model that a modified biplane can, in fact, produce significantly less drag than a conventional single-wing aircraft at supersonic cruise speeds. The group will publish their results in the Journal of Aircraft. / The design changes could cut the amount of fuel needed for a supersonic aircraft by half. That could also help hypersonic military weapons or hypersonic civilian jetliners that travel at more than five times the speed of sound. The two wing can be designed to cancel out each sonic boom.
Mysterious giant objects discovered in center of our galaxy | KurzweilAI (Galaxy.MilkyWay, Galaxy, Mystery, GammaRay, Astronomy)
The Fermi Gamma-Ray Telescope has just picked up “crazy-energetic photons,” says Dave Thompson, an astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. / “And it’s detecting so many of them we’ve been able to produce the first all-sky map of the very high energy universe.” / “About a third of the new sources can’t be clearly linked to any of the known types of objects that produce gamma rays,” Thompson says. “We have no idea what they are.” / Among them are super massive black holes called blazars, the seething remnants of supernova explosions, and rapidly rotating neutron stars called pulsars.
Nuclear fusion simulation shows high-gain energy output of 100 to 1000 times input current (Watch.Tech, Tech, Watch, EnergyGeneration, Engergy, Simulation, Fusion)
High-gain nuclear fusion could be achieved in a preheated cylindrical container immersed in strong magnetic fields, according to a series of computer simulations performed at Sandia National Laboratories. / The simulations show the release of output energy that was, remarkably, many times greater than the energy fed into the container’s liner. The method appears to be 50 times more efficient than using X-rays — a previous favorite at Sandia — to drive implosions of targeted materials to create fusion conditions. / In the simulations, the output demonstrated was 100 times that of a 60 million amperes (MA) input current. The output rose steeply as the current increased: 1,000 times input was achieved from an incoming pulse of 70 MA. / Since Sandia’s Z machine can bring a maximum of only 26 MA to bear upon a target, the researchers would be happy with a proof-of-principle result called scientific break-even, in which the amount of energy leaving the target equals the amount of energy ...
Padded envelopes vs. boxes for shipping --- Amazon Seller Community (Forum, Discussion, Book, Shipping)
Profiting Outside Amazon: Guest Post From Sarah Woodbury | David Gaughran (Sales, Publishing.Self, Publishing, SelfPublishing, Amazon)
The first wave of self-publishers who signed up to KDP Select have either come to the end of their 90-day exclusivity period or that day is fast approaching, and many are wondering whether to re-enroll in the program or to begin uploading to the other retailers. / At the beginning of January, when many writers were wrestling with whether to enroll in the program or not, I featured a number of guest posts from those who had seen success with KDP Select. / A number of commenters suggested I feature someone who hadn’t done well out of the program, but I wasn’t so sure that would make an interesting read.
Raymond Swanland Gallery (Fantasy, Gallery, Artist, Art)
Ron Wyden (D-OR) wants Obama to submit ACTA to Congress - Boing Boing (BoingBoing, Unilateral, Agreement, Trade, Constitution, Power, President, Congress, Government, USA, ACTA)
Oregon Democratic Senator Ron Wyden has demanded that the Obama administration receive Congressional assent before signing the USA up to the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, a wide-reaching international copyright treaty that was negotiated in secret (even Congress and the European Parliament weren't allowed to read the treaty drafts as they were negotiated). Wyden argues that the Obama administration's position -- which holds that the president can unilaterally bind the US to enact and maintain legislation -- is at odds with the constitution. In Wired, David Kravets speaks to Sean Flynn, a legal expert, about the dispute, who sides with Wyden, and quotes the US Trade Rep Ron Kirk maintaining that Congress has no role in this trade negotiation.
Sandia Developing Self-Guided Smart Bullet (Weapon, Watch.Tech, Smart, SmartGun, Bullet, Military, MilTech, Tech, Watch)
Sandia’s design for the four-inch-long bullet includes an optical sensor in the nose to detect a laser beam on a target. The sensor sends information to guidance and control electronics that use an algorithm in an eight-bit central processing unit to command electromagnetic actuators. These actuators steer tiny fins that guide the bullet to the target. / Most bullets shot from rifles, which have grooves, or rifling, that cause them to spin so they fly straight, like a long football pass. To enable a bullet to turn in flight toward a target and to simplify the design, the spin had to go, Jones said. / The bullet flies straight due to its aerodynamically stable design, which consists of a center of gravity that sits forward in the projectile and tiny fins that enable it to fly without spin, just as a dart does, he said. / Computer aerodynamic modeling shows the design would result in dramatic improvements in accuracy, Jones said. Computer simulations showed an unguided bullet ...
Science Fiction and Fantasy TV Shows That Were Ahead of Their Time (io9, TV, SciFi, Fantasy, SF)
Television is a cruel mistress. People bring fresh, original concepts to its glowing altar, where they are ruthlessly sacrificed and their entrails are strewn across Burbank. And yet, somehow, television does get better — smart, interesting shows do get on the air, and they sometimes even become hits. / Sometimes you look back, and realize that some innovative shows that failed in the past might actually become hits if they were on television now. Maybe they helped pave the way for shows that are big now, or maybe they just featured concepts or tropes that hadn't become popular yet. / Either way, here are some science fiction and fantasy TV shows that were just a little too ahead of their time.
Scientists discover a surprising new way that protons can move among molecules (Chemistry)
When a proton – the bare nucleus of a hydrogen atom – transfers from one molecule to another, or moves within a molecule, the result is a hydrogen bond, in which the proton and another atom like nitrogen or oxygen share electrons. Conventional wisdom has it that proton transfers can only happen using hydrogen bonds as conduits, "proton wires" of hydrogen-bonded networks that can connect and reconnect to alter molecular properties.
Series: New “419? scam involves PayPal and Western Union -- Windows Secrets (Links, Analysis, Beware, Adverstising, Online, Scam)
Stephen Fry and Ian McKellen pay to save The Hobbit pub from trademark trolls - Boing Boing (BoingBoing, Hobbit, LoTR, Counteracting, Troll, Copyright)
You've probably heard that an old pub called The Hobbit in Southampton is under threat from the film company that controls the licensing for the Tolkien canon. After a public outcry, the company agreed to sell the pub a license to go on using the name it has had for decades. Stephen Fry and Ian McKellan -- who are both in the Hobbit movie (Fry is in NZ right now, shooting) -- decided that this was stupid, so they've paid the license fee themselves.
Stories from a Certain Point of View -- Star Wars Books (YoungAdult, YA, Film, Movie, StoryTelling, POV, StarWars)
A young hero from a desolate and isolated region, torn from that life by the evil machinations of an oppressive regime, mentored by a wise-yet-weary warrior, forced into new alliances and a rebellion, a singular life-defining shot that hits its mark… I bet you thought I was talking about Star Wars. / A movie came out yesterday called The Hunger Games – you might have heard of it. Despite the grim depiction of children forced to fight to the death, Suzanne Collins’ novel trilogy quickly picked up momentum at the Lomin Ale Cantina, where Star Wars Expanded Universe fans discuss our favorite franchise and all things storytelling-related. Considering that the Cantina members are specifically fond of Leia Organa Solo, Jaina Solo, Tahiri Veila, and Tenel Ka, among others, it’s not surprising we found Katniss Everdeen, and her heroine’s journey set against the backdrop of a brutal revolution, truly captivating. But its heroine is only part of the reason The Hunger Games is resonating with ...
Superhero Reviews! (Blog, Review, ComicBook, Comics, Superhero)
Superheroes Invade Prose Fiction - Nick Leshi - Open Salon (Recommendation, Prose, List, Reading, Novel, Fiction, Superhero)
The newest trend in pop fiction, superpowered heroes, is ready to explode and go toe-to-toe with the vampires, zombies, apocalyptic epics, and wizard/witch kids who have staked vast stretches of territory on bestseller bookshelves. / Superheroes have been mainstays in comic books since the 1930s and have reached success in other media, such as television, movies, vdeogames, and even music, but now they are making a big splash in prose fiction books. / There have been superhero novels in the past, such as Gladiator by Philip Gordon Wylie and Superfolks by Robert Mayer, but suddenly we are witnessing a surge in prose fiction tales that have until now been the domain of comics and blockbuster film.
Swift narrows down origin of important supernova class (Astronomy, Physics, Supernova)
Studies using X-ray and ultraviolet observations from NASA's Swift satellite provide new insights into the elusive origins of an important class of exploding star called Type Ia supernovae.
Ten Obvious Truths About Fiction | LitReactor (Reading, ReaderWriterRelationship, ReaderTrust, Reader, ReaderExpectations, Readers, Writing)
The Breakfast Club of Champions | Superhero Novels (Superhuman, 80s, SuperheroNovels, Review, YA, YoungAdult, Novel, Superhero)
The Business Rusch: Quality | Kristine Kathryn Rusch (BusinessRusch, Publishing, Business)
The End of Limits: Guest Post by Matthew Iden | David Gaughran (StoryTelling, WordCount, Publishing)
The Free Universal Construction Kit | F.A.T. (Toy, Construction, Adapter, Fabber, ConstructionKit, Tinkertoy, Lego)
Ever wanted to connect your Legos and Tinkertoys together? Now you can — and much more. Announcing the Free Universal Construction Kit: a set of adapters for complete interoperability between 10 popular construction toys.
The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight | Superhero Novels (Review, SuperheroNovels, Novel, Superhero)
The Kill Zone: Jockeying for Position in the Muddy Publishing Future (Writing, Writers, AntiTrust, News, Watch, Publishing)
The Use (And Misuse) of Negative Space in Writing Fiction -- Christine Purcell (Structure, Scene, Advice, Writing)
Thomas Paine - Wikiquote (Politics, History, USA, Wikiquote, Wiki, List, Quote)
Vesta Seems More Planet Than Asteroid - Science News (Asteroid.Vesta, Asteroid)
Writing the Omniscient Viewpoint -- Writing Excuses 7.12 -- Writing Excuses (ThirdPersonOmniscient, ThirdPerson, Viewpoint, PodCast, Writing)

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Mass Effect 3 and Goat Guy Provide Possible Solutions for the Fermi Paradox

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Books Read: Henry Kuttner’s The Dark World -- Lawrence Person's Futuramen

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Mass Effect 3 and Goat Guy Provide Possible Solutions for the Fermi Paradox

[edit] Tagged Game.RPG

Gamers Mourn "Lost Tolkien" M.A.R. Barker | GeekDad | Wired.com

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Science Fiction and Fantasy TV Shows That Were Ahead of Their Time

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Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull -- Red Letter Media

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1970s 2012 80s ACTA AI Adapter Adverstising Advice AeroSpace Agreement Alien Alternative Amazon Analysis Anthology AntiTrust Art Artist Asteroid Asteroid.Vesta Astronomy Author Beware BlackGate BlackHole Blog BoingBoing Book Bridge Bullet Business BusinessRusch Camera Change Chemistry Civilization CloakingDevice Collaboration Comcast ComicBook Comics Commission Congress Constitution Construction ConstructionKit Copyediting Copyright Counteracting Cover DNS Definition DejaThoris Design Designer Discussion Distance Ebook ElectroMagnetic Email EnergyGeneration Engergy Epublishing Experiment FTL Fabber Fail Fantasy FermisParadox Fiction Film Find Forum Free Fusion Galaxy Galaxy.MilkyWay Gallery Game Game.RPG GammaRay Google Government Gravity History Hobbit Hologram HowTo HowTo.Find IndianaJones Infrared Invisibility Laser Lego Light Links List LoTR Magnetism Marketing Mass MassEffect Measurement MetaMaterial MilTech Military Momentum Money Movie Mystery News Nomad Novel Obit Online OpenDNS Optics POV Package Package.Paid Physics Planet Platform PodCast Politics Power President Progress Prose Publisher Publishing Publishing.Self Publishing.Traditional Publishing.Tradtional Quantum QuantumGravity Quote RPG Reader ReaderExpectations ReaderTrust ReaderWriterRelationship Readers Reading Recommendation RedLetterMedia Review SF Sales Scam Scene SciFi Science SelfPublished SelfPublishing SelfPublising Shipping ShortStory Simulation Smart SmartGun Solution Solution.Possible Spam StarWars StoryTelling Structure Superhero SuperheroNovels Superhuman Supernova Supersonic TV Taxes Tech Technique ThirdPerson ThirdPersonOmniscient Tinkertoy Tool Toy Trade Troll USA Unilateral Video Viewpoint Watch Watch.Tech Weapon WebSite Wiki Wikiquote WordCount Writers Writing YA YoungAdult io9

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2012/03/25