Graham Masterton’s Tengu

Posted on January 28, 2008 by skullsinthestars

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 finished over the weekend: Tengu. It’s currently out of print, though copies can be found through Amazon, and it’s well worth a read. I found the book riveting from it’s shocking and horrifying beginning to its explosive ending…

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Posted in Horror | Tagged | 8 Comments

Long-range optical communication… how much would you pay?

Posted on January 27, 2008 by skullsinthestars

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 of kilometers.  Potential advantages of such a scheme are the high bandwidth of communications, meaning lots of information can be transmitted very fast, and the highly directional nature of the signal, making it highly secure.  Disadvantages of such a scheme include the requirement of direct line of sight between transmitter and receiver, and more significantly the distortion induced in the beam by atmospheric turbulence.

Does one really need a laser to make a viable optical communications system, however?  I saw one talk at Photonics West, one of the best talks I’ve seen in a while, which demonstrates pretty convincingly that you do not…

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Posted in Optics | 3 Comments

Seth Pfefferle’s Stickman

Posted on January 25, 2008 by skullsinthestars

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 rare few unknowns that look promising.

This wasn’t always the case: when I was in my teens, I would indiscriminately snatch anything off the bookshelves that had the word ‘horror’ on the binding.   Most of the time I was sorely disappointed, but every once in a while I found something nice.

One of the books I discovered back then is Stickman, by Seth Pfefferle.  I dug it out of my collection a couple of nights ago and gave it a reread, and it still holds up pretty well, even though I first read it as a teen in 1987!

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Posted in Horror | 1 Comment

Is it natural, or is it designed?

Posted on January 23, 2008 by skullsinthestars

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 than science, than surely Ray, or a more science-minded creationist compatriot, will use the Bible to answer some of the troubling questions about the universe, such as the exact mass of the Higgs boson, the exact nature of dark matter (mass, spin, and relation to ordinary matter, please) or at the very least the grand unification energy at which the fundamental forces all become one and the same.

While we’re waiting for an answer, I was thinking about another creationist canard repeated often: that it is ‘obvious‘ that life is designed, because designed things are so obviously different than natural things.

This argument, while compelling to the fundamentalists, is flawed for one big reason: people have inferred or suspected design numerous times throughout history, only to later be refuted by scientific observation. I thought I’d put together a brief photo-essay of some examples…

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Posted in ... the Hell?, General science | Leave a comment

Cloverfield leaves viewers spewing!

Posted on January 23, 2008 by skullsinthestars

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 leaving Oklahoma City-area moviegoers with a different feeling — nausea.

…

Some moviegoers across Oklahoma City have gone so far to complain to theater managers, forcing some to refund tickets or offer other compensation.

“I heard a few people kind of whining about it,” said moviegoer Thomas Dozier. “They were talking about, like, ‘I have got to get out of here.’ Everyone around me was freaking out.”

…

But for those with a sensitive stomach, precautions might be warranted.”Take Dramamine, and you’ll be fine,” said Hastings.

Here’s an even easier bit of advice for queasy Cloverfield  viewers: close your eyes.  You’re not actually moving while the movie is playing, unlike on a roller coaster, so you can simply shut your eyes for a few moments during a slow spot in the film to let your brain settle down.  This is the same advice you’ll get on many virtual reality rides at amusement parks.

Posted in Entertainment, Horror | 8 Comments

Some random tips on scientific public speaking

Posted on January 22, 2008 by skullsinthestars

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 that I’ll blog about over the next couple of days.

One session the SPIE provided for students was advice on giving scientific presentations, which is indeed an art and there are plenty of people who never quite figure it out. I thought I’d provide a list of a few of the insights and ‘tricks’ I’ve learned about giving scientific talks at meetings, which will hopefully help someone down the line:

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Posted in Optics, Physics | 4 Comments

My “Cloverfield” Review (sans spoilers)

Posted on January 19, 2008 by skullsinthestars

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).

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Posted in Entertainment, Horror | 5 Comments

More conspiracy-mongering about anti-depressants (revised)

Posted on January 19, 2008 by skullsinthestars

I normally enjoy reading Crooks & Liars, the liberal video weblog, but a post today hit upon a pet peeve of mine. To quote the original news article,

An analysis published in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that studies of antidepressants that had positive results were more likely to be published in medical journals compared with those that had negative or questionable results. The findings showed that 94 percent of all published trials appeared to have positive results, while FDA reviews determined that 51 percent of all trials, both published and unpublished, had positive outcomes.

In the analysis, the researchers examined data for 74 antidepressant studies submitted to the FDA between 1987 and 2004. The results showed that 37 of the 38 trials the agency considered as having positive results were published, compared with 14 of the 36 trials that the FDA considered negative or questionable. Additionally, of the 14 negative or questionable studies that were published, 11 “conveyed a positive outcome” that was not justified by the FDA review, lead author Erick Turner stated.

The C&L post is irksome for a number of reasons.

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Posted in ... the Hell?, Science news | Tagged | 5 Comments

Giant ‘UFO’ spotted over Texas!

Posted on January 17, 2008 by skullsinthestars

Man, if this post doesn’t get my blog stats up, I can’t imagine anything will!

Citizens of Stephenville, Texas have for several weeks now reported seeing an unidentifiable object flying over the city.  To quote CNN:

Several dozen people — including a pilot, county constable and business owners — say they have seen a large silent object with bright lights flying low and fast. Some reported seeing fighter jets chasing it.

“People wonder what in the world it is because this is the Bible Belt, and everyone is afraid it’s the end of times,” said Steve Allen, a freight company owner and pilot who said the object he saw last week was a mile long and half a mile wide. “It was positively, absolutely nothing from these parts.”

Seems UFOs are on people’s minds again these days, what with Dennis Kucinich admitting to seeing an object above Shirley MacLaine’s house (you really can’t make this stuff up).  But let’s return to our new Texas sightings.

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Posted in ... the Hell?, Science news | Tagged | 6 Comments

Big, previously unknown palm tree discovered!

Posted on January 17, 2008 by skullsinthestars

From CNN, we get news that a previously unknown species of palm tree has been “discovered” on Madagascar! I put “discovered” in quotation marks because, as CNN says,

The palm tree, which grows to 66 feet in height and has about 16-foot leaves, is only found in an extremely remote region in the northwest of the country, some four days by road from the capital. Local villagers have known about it for years although none had seen it in flower until last year.

The bizarre flowering ritual was first spotted by Frenchman Xavier Metz, who runs a cashew plantation nearby. After seeing it he notified Kew Gardens.

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Posted in Animals, Science news | Leave a comment