Francis Stevens’ The Nightmare and Other Tales of Dark Fantasy

Posted on June 29, 2009 by skullsinthestars

In my readings for this blog, I am constantly surprised by how many truly excellent authors and works of weird fiction have been (mostly) lost in the passage of time.  Fortunately, a number of publishers have valiantly taken up the cause of bringing these forgotten works back into the public eye, and I’ve talked a quite a bit about Valancourt Books, Wordsworth Mystery and Supernatural, and Paizo Press.  I should probably add to this list Bison Books, an imprint of the University of Nebraska Press, which a few years ago produced an edition of Francis Stevens’ short stories, titled The Nightmare and Other Tales of Dark Fantasy:

thenightmare

Francis Stevens was the pseudonym of Gertrude Barrows Bennett (1883-1948), who wrote a number of novels and short stories between 1917 and 1923.  She is credited in the Bison Books edition as being “the woman who invented dark fantasy”, and with good reason: though the tales in the book are uneven in their plot and character development at times, they present a truly dark vision of the world that has obvious influences on such luminaries as H.P. Lovecraft and A. Merritt, as we will see.

Continue reading →

Posted in Horror, Weird fiction | 5 Comments

Happy birthday to Bruce Davison!

Posted on June 28, 2009 by skullsinthestars

I’m out of town for a few days, and likely posting light, but I had to put in a short “happy birthday” to actor Bruce Davison!

Davison, who has a distinguished air about him that screams, “upper echelon”, is often pegged for roles as academics, doctors or politicians — both good and bad.   He played the evil, mutie-hating Senator Kelly in X-Men, and the do-good philanthropist on the remake of Knight Rider.  He did an excellent, though brief, job as the unstable Dr. Silberman on Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and has guest-starred on shows as diverse as Seinfeld, Battlestar Galactica, and Lost.  I’ve always been particularly fond of his role as the increasingly deranged Dr. Stegman on the surprisingly good Stephen King miniseries Kingdom Hospital.

One performance of his, however, has been burned into my brain from long before I knew who he was.   One of his earlier roles was in the made-for-TV movie The Wave (1981), in which he plays high-school teacher Ben Ross, who is apparently turning his students into a new wave of Nazi idealogues.

Best wishes to Davison on his birthday for a long and successful career!

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Oh, the things I hear

Posted on June 28, 2009 by skullsinthestars

Overheard at the airport this morning, part of a conversation between two older ladies:

“She’s really pretty.  She has beautiful teeth.”

Posted in ... the Hell? | 4 Comments

A REAL problem for modern universities

Posted on June 27, 2009 by skullsinthestars

There have been a lot of people of late who have offered suggestions for “improving” the university system, mainly by putting the blame on the faculty.  There’s been criticism that the educational system produces “dull” scientists, and the more-or-less perennial calls for a heavier regulation of faculty members and an abolishment tenure.  However, as a recent case illustrates, perhaps faculty members shouldn’t be the only ones blamed for the quality of the system:

What does it cost to get an unqualified student into the University of Illinois law school?

Five jobs for graduating law students, suggest internal e-mails released Thursday.

The documents show for the first time efforts to seek favors — in this case, jobs — for admissions, the most troubling evidence yet of how Illinois’ entrenched system of patronage crept into the state’s most prestigious public university.

They also detail the law school’s system for handling “Special Admits,” students backed by the politically connected, expanding the scope of a scandal prompted by a Chicago Tribune investigation.

In one e-mail exchange, University of Illinois Chancellor Richard Herman forced the law school to admit an unqualified applicant backed by then- Gov. Rod Blagojevich while seeking a promise from the governor’s go-between that five law school graduates would get jobs. The applicant, a relative of deep-pocketed Blagojevich campaign donor Kerry Peck, appears to have been pushed by Trustee Lawrence Eppley, who often carried the governor’s admissions requests.

This is pretty appalling, and to me illustrative of a real problem with modern universities: the view that an education is simply a commodity to be sold, and more broadly that a university should be run just like any other business.  Reading the full article, I feel bad for the Dean of the Law School, who resisted pressure to admit the sub-par candidates as much as possible.

While I sympathize with the view that a university has to keep itself financially viable, far too often it seems that administrations try and improve the prestige and success of the institution by every method except the one that counts: maintaining first-rate academic programs.

Is there any part of Illinois that Rod Blagojevich didn’t corrupt?

Posted in ... the Hell? | 2 Comments

Yet another phishing fail

Posted on June 25, 2009 by skullsinthestars

Sure, phishing emails are annoying as hell, but they’re often so badly planned out that at least I can drag some entertainment out of them, as well.  I’ve posted some of my favorites before, namely the generic university phishing attempt and the all-time classic Christian lepers.

Today I was informed that I’m a winner:

Dear Lucky Winner,

We are pleased to inform you of your prize release dated 20th June 2009 on the Australian International Lottery programm.Which completely based on electronic selection of winners using their e-mail addresses.
…
You have been approved lump sum pay U.S. $ 500 000,00 FIVE Hundreds of
thousands of dollars in cash…

The problem?  Aside from the poor English and the typos, the email address ends in ‘.fr’.  That isn’t Australia…

Posted in ... the Hell? | Tagged | 2 Comments

In defense of those “dull” scientists

Posted on June 24, 2009 by skullsinthestars

The other day, Chad at Uncertain Principles linked to a very odd argument on the site Medical Hypotheses: “Why are modern scientists so dull? How science selects for perseverance and sociability at the expense of intelligence and creativity”, by Bruce Charlton:

Question: why are so many leading modern scientists so dull and lacking in scientific ambition? Answer: because the science selection process ruthlessly weeds-out interesting and imaginative people. At each level in education, training and career progression there is a tendency to exclude smart and creative people by preferring Conscientious and Agreeable people. The progressive lengthening of scientific training and the reduced independence of career scientists have tended to deter vocational ‘revolutionary’ scientists in favour of industrious and socially adept individuals better suited to incremental ‘normal’ science.

The article has been out on the ‘tubes since February — published in the journal Medical Hypotheses — and is so over-the-top polemical I’m tempted to think that it is a Poe of sorts.  However, it seems to be a sincere article, and so I thought I’d take a brief moment to give some rebuttal.

Continue reading →

Posted in ... the Hell?, General science | 13 Comments

Best wishes to Eric

Posted on June 22, 2009 by skullsinthestars

As a short personal note, my very good friend Eric is in the hospital today for what is considered a “minor” heart surgery.  Eric has been a good friend for many years and, without his support and friendship, I arguably wouldn’t have been as successful in life as I have been.  In fact, I may not even have made it into my 30’s.

Best wishes for a successful surgery and speedy recovery.

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The Linkin’ Log: June 21, 2009

Posted on June 21, 2009 by skullsinthestars

Today seemed like a good day to point out a few interesting tidbits I’ve happened across on the ‘tubes. In no particular order,

  • Tom at Swans on Tea linked to a very cool video demonstrating a genuine magnetic levitation train — in HO scale!
  • One of the original copies of Einstein sticking out his tongue sold for $74k in a recent auction.  The article gives some nice background explaining the origin of the picture, including its ties to the McCarthy era.
  • Via The New York Times, a wolverine has made a rare foray into the state of Colorado, after being driven out some 90 years earlier.  If you’ve never read anything about a wolverine outside of the comic book character, you should do so — they’re bad-assed and fascinating creatures.  They’re also known as “skunk bears”, due to their girth and strong scent, and they are related to the skunk.
  • By the way, if you’re a fan of the history of science, I’ve been meaning for some time to point out this wonderful and fascinating blog — Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Centraal — which focuses on the science and scientists of The Netherland’s Golden Age.
  • Finally, David Neiwert over at Crooks and Liars presents one of the best takedowns of Glenn Beck I’ve ever seen — and one of the strongest arguments in favor of progressives.  If Glenn Beck thinks progressives are toxic, what kind of America does he want?

P.S.  I went and saw “Up” last night with the wife.  It was a wonderful film.  There is a beautifully done montage at the beginning of the film, showing the major events in the life of the main character and his wife, which actually brought me (and the wife) to tears.  Every time I see a preview for a Pixar film, I think: “That looks really dumb!”, and every time I’ve been wrong.  Also, if you want to read some real drama associated with the film, go here.

Posted in General science | 6 Comments

Invisibility physics: Hiding and seeking, all at once!

Posted on June 19, 2009 by skullsinthestars

ResearchBlogging.org

When the first papers on the idea of a “cloaking” device came out in 2006, lots of people were immediately worried that the CIA would soon be peering right over their shoulder from the shelter of invisibility cloaks.  Many scientists, including myself, pointed out the flaw in that reasoning: a “perfect” cloak would direct all light around the outside of the cloak.  This meant that, although the spy couldn’t be seen in the cloak, he couldn’t see anything from inside!

originalcloak

An illustration of one of the original cloaking concepts from J. B. Pendry, D. Schurig, and D. R. Smith, Science 312, 1780 (2006): rays of light are guided around the interior region, which sees no light.

A recent paper in Physical Review Letters, however, suggests that this “mutual invisibility” can be overcome.  The research described suggests that a different type of cloaking device could be used to enclose a sensing device, and that the sensor would not only be (almost) invisible, but it would be able to detect radiation just as well as when outside the cloak!  The research is intriguing (though it still won’t help the CIA quite yet), and it illustrates a different, earlier, technique for making something “not be seen”.

Continue reading →

Posted in Invisibility, Optics | 2 Comments

Newton and the Counterfeiter available!

Posted on June 19, 2009 by skullsinthestars

I must have been daydreaming for a few days, because I failed to notice until now that Thomas Levenson’s book Newton and the Counterfeiter has been released!

This history of science book describes in detail a little-known chapter in the life of Isaac Newton: he left his academic post and moved to London to become Warden of His Majesty’s Mint.  This put him into what sounds like a very “Law and Order: Criminal Intent” conflict with a master counterfeiter of the day, William Chalconer.

I haven’t read the book yet, but it’s on its way from Amazon, and I can hardly wait!  I met Thomas Levenson briefly at ScienceOnline09, and he was a very nice and interesting fellow; he also runs The Inverse Square Blog, where he has been posting, among other things, about the process of getting his book produced.

I’ll post a full review after I read the book…

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