Emission of extremely strong magnetic fields from the head and whole body during oriental breathing exercises.
I have no idea what to make of this, but it's fascinating. This is mostly a reference post; this is exactly the sort of thing I like to crib for SF stories ( Read more... )

The Florida legislature has approved religious-themed specialty license plates.

They didn't get to see them before the vote, but here's a pic:


( Read more... )

You know, for years, I've referred to "the inverse of Clarke's Third Law" when discussing fantasy literature, but I never really quite hit upon an elegant way to phrase it.

Thank you, Phil and Kaja Foglio:

"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science!"

This made me happy.

(...I also really want to play in that game setting.)

When it comes to apocalyptic scenarios, why do I find the discovery of Xibalba more plausible than firing up the Large Hadron Collider?

Archaeologists Find Mayan Hell; Provide Plot of Mummy IV

It's like some kind of pulp adventure tale: deep in the Yucatan jungles, there's a flooded cave complex that the Mayans believed was the entrance to the Afterlife, Xibalba. Scuba divers have, slowly and carefully, explored the caverns and found vast, air-filled chambers filled with temples. ( Read more... )

Since it's Friday the 13th, it seems an appropriate time to explain a phrase that I use with great frequency:

"Coyote Loves Me."

I often utter it in situations where other folks might invoke "Murphy's Law" or "Finagle's Law", which leads many people to assume that it's entirely about, well, bad luck.

That's not it at all -- or not the important ( Read more... )

This is easily the most surreal thing I've read today.

Mark Evanier, writer of screen, cel, and comic book panel, tells the tale of the comic book based on The Dick Van Dyke Show, way back in the '60s... and the art director's breakdown.

It starts getting surreal around issue 8, but read the whole thing, just for the encroaching emergence of Teh ( Read more... )

Follow-Up to the Tornado Master post of 23 July 2007:

Louis Michard has his own website, where he explains the Vortex Engine without all the fluff of the new article.

Found at FUTURISMIC.

I pointed the Vortex Engine out to Technovelgy.com, a blog that looks at ideas and inventions from science fiction that come true in today's world. They very kindly looked up the reference from The Space Merchants, along with additional material on the Vortex Engine specs that weren't in the original articleLink here: Read more... )