November 21, 2019

November News

* Overheard in the Store:

"Pokemon should not make you feel funny in your pants-parts."

"Finally, a bookstore with the _correct_ smell!"

"Some fungi are only edible once."

"If all else fails, use the parallel world."

"The highest villain in the book is a giant bagpipe. Nothing could be more evil than a bagpipe."

"I was ambushed, and she forcibly read her poetry at me."

"If you're not pissing someone off, you're probably in PR."

"Joel Selvin has covered pop music for the San Francisco Chronicle since shortly after the Civil War."

"It's a book title - 'Consensual Cannibalism: An Atheist's Primer for Surviving the Apocalypse'."

"Apparently it's the day of Hyper Aggressive Authors."

* Big congratulations to all the nominees and winners of this year's World Fantasy Awards!  https://locusmag.com/2019/11/2019-world-fantasy-awards-winners/

* We are very sad to share news of the death of the incomparable Michael Blumlein.  Michael was a Borderlands sponsor, a retired doctor, and an extremely talented genre author, but more importantly he was a brilliant, humorous, generous, and tremendously good human being with an enduring sense of wonder.  He will be fiercely missed. https://www.tor.com/2019/10/28/michael-blumlein-1948-2019/

* You can hear a podcast of Rudy Rucker's October 26th, 2019 event at Borderlands (including his touching tribute to Michael Blumlein) here: http://www.rudyrucker.com/blog/2019/10/28/podcast-110-million-mile-road-trip-memories-of-michael-blumein/

* A lengthy article on how the amazing author John M. Ford fell into obscurity after his death.  And guess what?  His books are going to be reprinted!: https://slate.com/culture/2019/11/john-ford-science-fiction-fantasy-books.html

* John Varley's alien sex chart in WIZARD changed Annalee Newitz's life: https://www.tor.com/2019/11/20/the-sex-chart-that-changed-my-life-spectrums-of-sexuality-in-john-varleys-wizard/

* Say, how big ARE Supermassive Black Holes?  Big enough to crush our puny human brains: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgNDao7m41M

* Golden Gate Bridge vs. asteroid?  Florida vs. the Death Star?  See who wins: https://mymodernmet.com/kevin-wisbith-a-quick-perspective

* A real-life Iron Man breaks a powered suit aerial speed record: https://nerdist.com/article/irl-iron-man-sets-jet-engine-powered-suit-speed-record/

* Listen to a new, free China Mieville horror story on audiobook, "The Design": https://www.tor.com/2019/10/29/listen-to-china-mievilles-the-design-a-free-audiobook-horror-story/

* Creepy tunnels under San Francisco: https://www.kqed.org/news/11782405/tunnels-under-san-francisco-inside-the-dark-dangerous-world-of-the-sewers

* Your moment of quasicrystalline mind-wreckery for the day: https://laughingsquid.com/quasicrystal-hypnotic-animation/

* Wisdom for aspiring artists from Moebius: http://www.openculture.com/2015/03/moebius-gives-18-wisdom-filled-tips-to-aspiring-artists-1996.html

* An interesting article on "last words" -- what people actually say before they die: https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2019/01/how-do-people-communicate-before-death/580303/

* They look like scenes from an ancient tomb, but they aren't. . . . they're macro shots taken inside instruments: https://arthusiast.art/amazing-macro-shots-taken-inside-instruments-by-adrian-borda/

* An entertaining article on Charles Adams from The Long Island Press: https://www.longislandpress.com/2018/10/29/charles-addams-the-long-island-macabre-master-who-created-the-addams-family/

* A haunting Ted-Ed lesson written by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and animated by Jorge Jaramillo, explains how H.P. Lovecraft turned scientific discoveries of his time into the creepy fear of the unknown: https://laughingsquid.com/hp-lovecraft-fictional-terror/

* A new study shows what people from one of the earliest civilizations on Earth may have looked like: https://weather.com/en-IN/india/science/news/2019-10-10-study-people-indus-valley-civilisation-faces-looked-like

* We're sorry to report the death of Alexei Leonov, the first person to walk in space.  Read a bit about that terrifying & history-making first spacewalk here: https://gizmodo.com/how-alexei-leonov-survived-the-harrowing-first-spacewal-1838980458

No comments:

Post a Comment