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The author of Skulls in the Stars is a professor of physics, specializing in optical science, at UNC Charlotte. The blog covers topics in physics and optics, the history of science, classic pulp fantasy and horror fiction, and the surprising intersections between these areas. -
Monthly Archives: January 2008
Zombies for Romney!
My friend Personal Demon (h/t) forwarded this image of a Romney supporter, from Yahoo! News photos: Yes, the dead have risen and they’re voting Republican! (PD said in his email that he’s a mean, mean man. I have to agree … Continue reading
Posted in Politics
3 Comments
Y: The Last Man comes to an end… (update)
CNN reminded me that the comic series Y: The Last Man is coming to an end; the final issue is released this week. For those not in the know, Y is the story of a plague that wipes out, in … Continue reading
Posted in Entertainment
5 Comments
Sound as a fire extinguisher?
A friend of mine forwarded me a link (h/t “JakeRyker”) about extinguishing fire with sound waves that appeared in Scientific American. As noted in the article, it has been known since experiments by John Tyndall in 1857 that flames could … Continue reading
Posted in Physics, Science news
2 Comments
Graham Masterton’s Tengu
I’m reading a number of books by Graham Masterton these days, in anticipation of writing a ‘horror masters‘ post on his work. I had to ‘break radio silence’, though, and rave about one of his early books that I just … Continue reading
Long-range optical communication… how much would you pay?
There’s a lot of interest in both industry and the military in developing free-space optical communications systems. The basic idea is to use a laser to transmit signals at optical frequencies over distances ranging from a few kilometers to hundreds … Continue reading
Posted in Optics
3 Comments
Seth Pfefferle’s Stickman
Nowadays, I tend to be pretty picky when it comes to reading horror fiction. Much of the work out there is shoddy, even exploitative, and completely bereft of scares. I’ve consequently kept my focus primarily on established authors and a … Continue reading
Posted in Horror
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Is it natural, or is it designed?
Creationist quack/hack Ray Comfort has a blog, and he recently argued that the Bible is a science text, and in fact is better than science (h/t Pharyngula). My main response to such drivel is that if the Bible is better … Continue reading
Posted in ... the Hell?, General science
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Cloverfield leaves viewers spewing!
Thanks to the ‘shaky-cam’ filming method of Cloverfield, apparently a significant number of viewers have been getting sick during the film: Scary movies are supposed to leave patrons feeling a bit scared and jittery, but the newest horror flick is … Continue reading
Posted in Entertainment, Horror
8 Comments
Some random tips on scientific public speaking
I’m currently in San Jose, at Photonics West, the biggest optics meeting of the SPIE (Society of Photographic Instrumentation Engineers, originally.) I’m only here briefly, and pretty burned out on meetings for the moment. I did see some nice talks … Continue reading
Posted in Optics, Physics
4 Comments
My “Cloverfield” Review (sans spoilers)
The girlfriend and I just got back a little while ago from seeing Cloverfield and, this being a horror blog among other things, I thought I would give my impressions of the film (along with probably half the blogosphere).
Posted in Entertainment, Horror
5 Comments
Skulls in the Stars 