Blogroll update!

Posted on February 21, 2008 by skullsinthestars

I finally decided to update my blogroll the other day with some of the sites that have quickly become required reading for me. It still amazes me how many great authors, in a variety of different disciplines and professions, are willing to share their thoughts and insights.

Anyway, I encourage people to take a look. My only requirements for putting someone on the ‘roll is that they write their blog posts semi-often and that their work is interesting and enlightening to read!

A little note: I may be a bit quiet in posting over the next few days: I’ve got a midterm to grade, and a paper draft to finish before a visitor arrives next week. Those tasks will probably keep me pretty busy.

Update: Oh, and I am probably buying a house with my girlfriend over the weekend. Not surprisingly, this is occupying a lot of my thoughts…

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Relativity: Newtonian relativity

Posted on February 19, 2008 by skullsinthestars

In the first post on Einstein’s relativity, we discussed the discoveries and theories which served as the precursors to Einstein’s work. The most significant of these is Newton’s own version of relativity, now dubbed ‘Newtonian relativity’. Before we continue a discussion of the speed of light and how it relates to Einstein’s work, it will be useful to go into a little more detail about Newtonian relativity and conclusions which can be drawn from it.

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Posted in Physics, Relativity | 6 Comments

Gun fanatics self-refute their own arguments (updated X 2)

Posted on February 18, 2008 by skullsinthestars

In the wake of the appalling Northern Illinois University tragedy, it has been depressing to see the right-wing gun fanatics making the same tired and irrational arguments against any sort of gun regulation and, even worse, in favor of unrestricted concealed-carry laws on campuses. You can see all of these arguments brought forth by the extremists in the comments section of this post on Carpetbagger.

What astonishes me more than anything is that the extreme views of the gun fanatics make them living refutations of their own arguments. Reasonable people could convince me that there is a good middle ground on gun control, in which law-abiding citizens can own weapons with some restrictions; the fanatics push my temperament much closer to a full ban. This is a shame, because I have a lot of good friends who are gun owners and whom I have literally trusted with my life – I would hate to see crazies shift the gun discussion to the point where no reasonable solutions to gun violence can be found.

In the spirit of trying to push a reasonable discussion on gun violence – or maybe just to rant – I thought I’d refute, again, some of the common refrains of gun fanatics.

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Posted in Politics | 19 Comments

Bentley Little’s The Return

Posted on February 17, 2008 by skullsinthestars

My horror blogging has motivated me to go out and broaden my horizons and read some authors I’ve never considered before.  Bentley Little’s 2002 book The Return, which is ostensibly about a legendary Bigfoot-like monster, the Mogollon Monster, and an archaeological excavation which inadvertently awakens the creature.  This sounded like a story that I would enjoy, so I gave it a try!  Unfortunately, it didn’t really hold up to its promise.  Details after the fold…

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Friday catblogging: Eleanor!

Posted on February 15, 2008 by skullsinthestars

I’ve done a bit of catblogging before about my insane cat Zoe.  Another cat inspired me to adopt Zoe in the first place, and I thought I’d share that story, since it’s still ongoing!  After the fold, meet Eleanor!

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Happy birthday to Simon Pegg!

Posted on February 14, 2008 by skullsinthestars

I don’t want to get carried away with entertainment birthday posts, but I can’t miss the opportunity to give birthday wishes to a man who has cemented his reputation in action, comedy and horror… simultaneously in only two films!  Happy birthday to Simon Pegg!

Pegg has been acting for years but his true international breakout role was in Shaun of the Dead, the magnificent zombie comedy that he starred in and co-wrote.   This role is beloved among horror fans and has earned cameos for Pegg in Grindhouse and George Romero’s Land of the Dead, as well as Romero’s upcoming film Diary of the Dead.

One could hardly imagine anything better than ‘Shaun’, but then Pegg’s next acting/writing achievement is a parody of action and horror films, Hot Fuzz, which may even be better than ‘Shaun’!  (Any film which brings together Timothy Dalton, Bill Nighy, Jim Broadbent, and Edward Woodward is pretty much by definition great.)

Look for Pegg in the upcoming Star Trek film as a young Scotty, as well!  So happy birthday to Simon Pegg!

On a completely unrelated note, if you haven’t seen it yet, the trailer for the new Indiana Jones film has been released on YouTube, and it looks pretty darn entertaining.  I embed the clip below the fold…

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Posted in Entertainment | 2 Comments

Graham Masterton: Ghosts (and demons) of the past

Posted on February 13, 2008 by skullsinthestars

I knew almost nothing about Graham Masterton’s work when I started this blog. I had read his very first novel, The Manitou, several years previously (and seen the charming yet silly movie version), but knew nothing else about his work. But he is a ‘Horror Master’, and I decided to give his books a more detailed look. Ten novels later, I feel like I’m ready to write a ‘Masters’ post about him…

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Posted in Horror, Horror Masters | 10 Comments

The pre-history of Einstein’s relativity

Posted on February 12, 2008 by skullsinthestars

I’m planning to do a long-term series of posts on Einstein’s relativity, starting with the special theory and progressing to the general theory (if you don’t know what the difference is, that’s okay, ’cause I’m gonna explain it all, eventually).

Einstein’s theories of relativity are certainly the among most elegant of all of physics. Incredibly deep and counterintuitive consequences can be derived from the statement of a small number of simple postulates, and general features of the special theory of relativity are accessible to anyone who has some familiarity with algebraic manipulation.

But no theory is created ‘in a vacuum’ (pun intended), and Einstein’s is no exception. Relativity has its roots in the very beginnings of what we now call physics, so we begin our discussion with a short introduction to the events and observations that led up to Einstein’s magnificent theories. This post will be pretty much bereft of math; later posts will include algebraic operations as needed.

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Posted in Physics, Relativity | 10 Comments

Roy Scheider dies at 75

Posted on February 11, 2008 by skullsinthestars

A bit of sad news, this morning: actor Roy Scheider has died at 75.  Scheider had an impressive television and film career, which included two Oscar nominations.  One of these nominations was for The French Connection, the magnificent crime thriller which basically invented the modern movie car chase.  Scheider also had turns in a number of other thrillers, including Marathon Man (“Is it safe?”),  Blue Thunder, The Punisher, and The Rainmaker, to name a few.  He played a magnificently amoral Russian mob boss on the television series Third Watch.  He also made his mark on the science fiction genre, starring in 2010 and in the short-lived but enjoyable television series SeaQuest DSV.

As far as aquatic adventures go, however, Scheider will be remembered most for his role as police chief and aquaphobe Martin Brody in the amazing Jaws.  He gave Brody a funny and human side that made the movie touching and all the more tense because you cared about the characters.  Scheider’s strength even made the inferior Jaws II a watchable film.

He will be missed…

Posted in Entertainment | 1 Comment

What’s in a name, or a label, for Hillary?

Posted on February 7, 2008 by skullsinthestars

Mrs. Bad Astronomy has written a guest post on her husband’s blog (h/t Science After Sunclipse) concerning the media’s tendency to refer to Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton as simply “Hillary”. The conclusion drawn is that this represents, either consciously or unconsciously, some sexism on the part of the media. Referring to a Presidential candidate by her first name, in this view, is an indirect way of minimizing her importance and her seriousness.

A number of commenters on the post more or less dismissed this opinion because Clinton herself uses the campaign slogan, “Hillary for President.” In the commenters’ view, Hillary wants… erm, Hillary Clinton wants to be referred to by her first name, and the media is simply going along with this.

I suspect there’s some truth to the latter view, but I also don’t doubt that there’s some sexism, albeit probably unintentional, going on. I have some anecdotal evidence from academia that supports this.

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Posted in Politics | Tagged | 2 Comments