Weird

Back From The Edge?

~ Cheryl

Those of you who have read Passage by Connie Willis will remember that the book centers around the idea that people who are dying can have “out of body” experiences. Are such things real? Well, The Guardian reports that a group of researchers at Southampton University plan to find out. One of the classic elements of the “out of body” report is that people report being able to look down upon their bodies lying in bed, so the experimenters will place a number of postcards in places that can only be seen by someone hovering above the bed. If their subjects can correctly recall seeing the postcards (the contents of which they do not know in advance) then their viewpoint will be proven to have moved.

The Guardian journalist manages to demonstrate about as much knowledge of logic as a creationist, but then it is her job to incite a flame war so I guess I shouldn’t be too hard.

Cities of the Dead

~ Cheryl ~ 2 Comments

One of the streetcar lines that we rode ends at an area of New Orleans given over entirely to vast cemeteries. One of them has a huge, neo-classical mortuary that claims to be “certified haunted”. I’m not sure I’d want my relatives buried somewhere that the dead had a reputation of not staying where they were put, but each to their own, I suppose.

Anyway, there they all are, in serried ranks, the houses of the dead. There are so many that they have street names. But they are not all alike. I spotted an obelisk. And several of the larger tombs bore a distinct resemblance to Celtic burial mounds. There is something odd going on here. New Orleans is, after all, something of a multi-faith city.

Talking of which, the police cars all bear a symbol of crescent and a star, and the local NBC affiliate’s offices look distinctly like a mosque.

Toaster Art

~ Cheryl

One of the regular features over at Pagan Prattle is the seemingly never ending stream of people who find fuzzy images of Jesus in odd places. Well, Deb Geisler may have the solution: the USB Toaster. Now, not only can you have have crisp and clear pictures of Jesus appear on your toast, you can also have Buddha, Krishna, Aphrodite, Cthulhu or the Flying Spaghetti Monster instead. It is probably a good idea that it won’t go on general sale, however, because some deities don’t like having their pictures reproduced, and others object to having their images eaten.

Windmills of the Beast

~ Cheryl

In doing a post on US energy subsidies on my company blog today I discovered that in 2007 the US government gave $666m to the wind industry. Of course this number will have been rounded from something a lot less full of mythological significance, but that doesn’t usually stop the numerology crowd. I look forward to seeing a few posts about how this proves that renewable energy is a Satanic plot.

Truth in Translation

~ Cheryl ~ 1 Comment

Via The Economist I discover that, due to an unfortunate translation error, several restaurants in China are offering bemused diners “stir fried wikipedia”.

Apparently it should have been a sort of edible fungus. Possibly the confusion arose because in Wikipedia you can sometimes find a few delicious items in amongst a pile of shit, but you have to know what you are doing because it is really hard to tell the edible stuff from the poisonous varieties.

Prattle Fodder

~ Cheryl ~ 16 Comments

Via Pharyngula I find this news report about Fr. Jeremy Davies, the official exorcist for the Westminster Archdiocese, who believes that homosexuality is caused by demonic possession.

He also said that Satan is responsible for having blinded most secular humanists to the “dehumanising effects of contraception and abortion and IVF, of homosexual ‘marriages’, of human cloning and the vivisection of human embryos in scientific research.” Extreme secular humanism, “atheist scientism”, is comparable to “rational satanism” and these are leading Europe into a dangerous state of apostasy.

“Rational satanism”, eh? Your homework for today is to explain to me how Satanism can be viewed as “rational”.

Comrades in the Stars

~ Cheryl ~ 4 Comments

I’m sure that Ken MacLeod must know all about Juan Posadas, but I didn’t, and this post at Crooked Timber has made me want to know more:

UFOs, predicts Posadas, will show a greater interest in us “at the moment of the collapse of the bourgeoisie and the General Strike.” Star Trek fans will recognise the similarity with the film First Contact, in which Vulcans passing Earth only show an interest in humans after they have developed warp drive.

Note the title of the post as well. Geekery abounds.

Ultimate SF Wedding

~ Cheryl

A Japanese firm is offering geeky couples the opportunity to tie the knot in zero G. Only $2.3 million a time, which is a fraction of what the average Premiership footballer spends on nuptials, I believe. And the best bit of all, even if your relatives are brave enough to attend, there won’t be room for them in the ship.

Space Aliens Invade Wales

~ Cheryl

And it is nothing to do with Doctor Who. The BBC reports that a police helicopter hovering near Cardiff airport spotted a UFO. The officers declined to give chase. A Ministry of Defence spokesperson later said:

it is certainly not advisable for police helicopters to go chasing what they think are UFOs

Absolutely not. That would be a job for MI:13.

Visual Humor

~ Cheryl ~ 2 Comments

I don’t often do the “you must click this link” thing without telling you what is on the other end, but I fear that if I did with this one it would spoil the joke. Suffice it to say that it is a literature-related graphjam, and it had me in fits of giggles. Entirely work safe.

Meme Silliness

~ Cheryl ~ 1 Comment

As most of you will know, I don’t do memes. However, my good friend John Picacio has tagged me, and because he’s a pal (and he’s just done a favor for my friends at Borderlands Books), I shall carry out the instructions.

So, the book I’m currently reading is Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay. I go to page 123 and find the fifth sentence. It reads:

Or Brandin’s, Sandre echoed.

See, the gods of chance know that I don’t do memes either. I shall refrain from tagging anyone, least they end up with a sentence even shorter and less interesting.

Of course, if I were a responsible blogger I’d search through my entire library to find a book with an interesting fifth sentence on page 123, but most of my library is in California, and look what happens when I try the books I have here.

In Jeffrey Ford’s The Shadow Year the fifth sentence on page 123 is, “A terrible drunk.”

In Glenda Larke’s Song of the Shiver Barrens the fifth sentence on page 123 is, “‘Tarran.”

And Richard Morgan’s Black Man does not have five complete sentences on page 123.

I think I had better stop before I inadvertently cause the destruction of the universe.

Genpets

~ Cheryl

Via the excellent Biology in Science Fiction blog (which you really should be reading yourself, it is great), I discover the wonderful world of Genpets. They have to be the next big thing in kids’ toys. This is from their marketing brochure:

The entire Genpetsâ„¢ line-up pulls its basis from a natural stage of evolution in the market. Our idea ties together the best of packaging with the best of products. Dolls and robotic toys quickly become tiresome, while traditional pets require a high level of upkeep. Genpetsâ„¢ however, learn and adapt. They are living pets, but better, modified to be as reliable, dependable and efficient as any other technology we use in our busy lives.

Yep, that’s right. Mass-produced, bio-engineered pets. They even come in a range of personality profiles so that you can pick one that is best suited to your kid.

Getting suspicious yet? OK, I’ll put you out of your misery. The information you are looking for his here. I’m just sorry it has taken me so long to find this. It really deserved a Hugo nomination, but we are way too late. Still, the artist is Canadian. Montreal folks – listen up please – I want Adam Brandejs (and hopefully the Genpets exhibit) at Anticipation. See to it, please.