Archive for May, 2010

Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions

Originally published in 1884 by Seeley & Co., Flatland was a critique of the social practices and beliefs of the Victorian culture. Written by an English school master (Edwin A. Abbott), it is now considered one of the best introductions to perceiving dimensions (Isaac Asimov is quoted to saying as much).

Homo Gameus: The Future of Man

Might I propose that your man playing his silly little games is simply working towards evolving into the next step in human evolution?

The Thing (1982)

This movie, in the almost thirty years since release, has become a critical favorite among the sci-fi horror genre.  It has an 80% on Rotten Tomatoes (if you don’t know, that’s pretty good), is in the top 200 on IMDB at 164 and finally received critical acclaim across the board despite poor initial reception.  You can still [...]

Waves of the Cosmos

Albert Einstein, via his theories of relativity, predicted a number of very astonishing things.  The bending of light due to large gravitational bodies such as stars was quite easily proven in 1919 by Sir Arthur Eddignton.  It predicted/explained certain characteristics of Mercury’s orbit that had previously been observed.  Time dilation due to not only speed [...]

The Not So Infallible Iron Man (2)

As far as comic book movies go, the Iron Man series is by far the best Hollywood has done.  Some of you might cry foul pointing at the new Batman movies, but Batman Begins and The Dark Knight are just too high cinema to put them in the same realm.  It’s more that Christopher Nolan [...]

baumgartner-astrona_304215s

One Small Step for a Man, One Really Long Fall for Mankind

Jumping from high altitudes usually isn’t anything to talk about.  Sky divers jump out of airplanes on a daily basis, base jumpers dive from cliff sides regularly.  Extremists occasionally even hurdle themselves from the worlds tallest buildings.  Felix Baumgartner has done all three, setting various records and accomplishing amazing feats.  Back in July of 2003, [...]