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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. -
Category Archives: Entertainment
Dick Van Dyke: Still cool
I’ve been a big fan of Dick Van Dyke for a long time, and it’s great to see that he’s still active and in the news! CNN has a nice interview with him in which he reminisces about making Mary … Continue reading
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A double loss for cinema: Montalban and McGoohan
Via Pharyngula, we learn that the last two days resulted in the loss of two of entertainment’s coolest actors: Patrick McGoohan died on Tuesday, while Ricardo Montalban died on Wednesday. It is strangely appropriate for their deaths to more or … Continue reading
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A Patrick Swayze Christmas, by MST3K
I’ve got to continue the holiday tradition I started last Christmas; I therefore present, “A Patrick Swayze Christmas”: In the spirit of the season, I offer sincere best wishes and ‘get well soon’ to Patrick Swayze, who has been fighting … Continue reading
Posted in Entertainment, Silliness
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Wonderful views of Earth From Above
Boston.com has a wonderful collection of images from the Earth From Above exhibit, which has been put on display in various cities since 1994 and is coming to NYC. To quote the official website, Yann Arthus-Bertrand’s mission was to create … Continue reading
Posted in Entertainment, General science
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John W. Campbell Jr.’s Who Goes There?
I’ll be getting back to some physics posts this week — I promise! In the meantime, I thought I’d step away from reading old, old classic horror of the 19th century for a bit and look to a different era: … Continue reading
Posted in Entertainment, Horror
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Richard Wright of Pink Floyd dies
The music world has lost one of its greats: Rick Wright, keyboardist and founding member of Pink Floyd, died at 65 after a long battle with cancer. His contributions to the band were often dismissed, especially, it seems, by fellow … Continue reading
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Happy Birthday to Richard Kiel!
It would be horrible of me to let September 13th pass by and not note the birthday of the most excellent actor Richard Kiel! Kiel turns 69 today. Kiel, standing a daunting 7’2” tall, has made a career out of … Continue reading
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Peanuts animator, and voice of Snoopy, Bill Melendez, dies at 91
Sadly, the producer/animator who brought us such classics as “A Charlie Brown Christmas” and “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” has passed away at 91, of natural causes. He was also the very familiar voice of Snoopy in many of these specials, … Continue reading
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Camera-free Radiohead video! (updated)
(Update: I fixed the discussion on LIDAR speed detection, thanks to edweird’s observations in the comments.) This is pretty neat. Via Crooks & Liars, we have Radiohead’s new music video (embedded below the fold), for House of Cards, which uses … Continue reading
Posted in Entertainment, Optics
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Avatar: The Last Airbender concludes!
Wow. I just finished watching the 2-hour series finale of Avatar: The Last Airbender. After a three-year run, the animated series ended on Saturday night. Simply amazing. This is definitely, in my opinion, one of the best television series I’ve … Continue reading
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