As my part in the War on Christmas, I thought I’d link to some irreverent Christmas music. For those fans of Jonathan Coulton, Mike Spiff of Spiffworld finally did a video of Chiron Beta Prime, one of my favorite Christmas songs:
I wanted to post a video of Fishbone’s Christmas classic Slick Nick, You Devil You, but there isn’t one. So I’ll simply post a link to the lyrics:
Normally I delete without reading any ‘phishing‘ or 419 scam emails I get, which include the Nigerian banking schemes along with their close relatives the Hong Kong banking scheme, the UK banking scheme, the Amsterdam lottery scheme, the China import/export scheme, along with notices ‘from’ every major bank that my account with them has been closed – most of which appeared in my inbox in the past week.
I just received one yesterday, though, that is so unintentionally hilarious that I have to share the highlights below the fold (emphasis in the letter will be mine):
CNN is reporting today that astronomers have determined that there’s a one in 75 chance that a big asteroid could hit Mars in January! These may not seem like good odds, but they’re astonishingly high considering the amount of empty space in the solar system. Scientifically, it would be an exciting event to witness, assuming that Mars is facing us when it happens.
The asteroid is said to be roughly the size of the asteroid assumed responsible for the Tunguska blast of 1908. For those unfamiliar, a remote area of Siberia was rocked by a massive, 15-megaton explosion in 1908. Compare that with the Hiroshima blast of 13-kilotons, a thousand times weaker! The explosion sparked many theories as to its origin, from the ‘mundane’ (asteroid impact, comet impact) to the exotic (mini-black hole impact) to the absurd (alien spaceship explosion!). A popular history book came out last year about the blast and the speculation afterwards, The Mystery of the Tunguska Fireball, though I confess I haven’t had a chance to read it yet.
Beyond the scientific benefit of such a Mars impact, it could also have a political implications. Good images of a massive impact on Mars might make politicians here on Earth pay more attention to the remote but threatening possibility of catastrophic Earth collisions. Another side benefit: if we felt a little more secure about threats from space, we might be spared more cheesy disaster films in the future.
I’ve been kind of busy the past few days, preparing for the holidays (you hear me, Bill O’Reilly? I said ‘holiday’!!!), so I haven’t been able to post much. This seemed like a good time to share one of my favorite little passages from Robert E. Howard’s Conan book The Hour of the Dragon. It’s a nice insight into Robert’s views on religious tolerance…
Two little things happened on the political front today that give some faint hope that the country hasn’t degraded completely into a torture-loving big-brother kleptocracy:
Most frustrating about both these events is the near lack of media coverage. CNN’s coverage of the telecom bill contains only a brief mention of what many consider to be a horrifying abuse of the constitution. I couldn’t find any mention at all of the call for impeachment hearings.
Our next horror master is Roald Dahl (1916-1990), Welsh author and screenwriter. Most people probably know Dahl as the author of such famous children’s books as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, and Matilda. A lot of these people would probably be surprised to learn that Dahl also wrote numerous nasty and exceedingly clever short stories, some of which are famous in their own right.
A new clip for the movie Cloverfield has come out, revealing a bit more of the party scene leading up to the beginning of the end of New York City. Cloverfield, for those who haven’t heard yet, is a movie from producer J.J. Abrams about a gigantic monster descending on and apparently destroying New York City. Sounds like a familiar plot, right? The twist is that the movie is entirely from the point of view of digital video taken by someone who happened to be in town during all these calamitous events – sort of a ‘Blair Witch Godzilla.’
Personally, I’m really intrigued by and looking forward to the film, which comes out in January. It looks to be incredibly tense and creepy, and as the film is shot at night, we don’t get a clear view at whatever is wrecking the city, which is the right way to go.
Incidentally, J.J. Abrams is also the executive producer of Lost, which may be a positive or a negative for you…
Now I know how Hercules must have felt. Like the mythical hydra, you slap down one relativity denialist, and two more pop up in his place. In my case, one appeared as a comment on my blog (filtered as spam – I have a wise filter), and another appeared as spam email in my work mailbox. I haven’t looked at the latter one yet, and will post on it later, if entertaining enough, but let’s take a look at our commenter, John Ryskamp (after the fold; it’s loooooong)…
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. 
Skulls in the Stars 