All Posts (6495)

Sort by

Hello All

I have submitted a proposal to Amazon Studios. It is a scripted episodic series called The Flying Bullet.

The link to the project is here at:  http://studios.amazon.com/projects/70413#.

On the project page, viewers can download a PDF pilot script and watch a 4 minute promo video.

I need to show the executives at Amazon Studios that their can be room for a black sci-fi series that everyone can enjoy.

Please view the material and leave a review. Let Amazon Studios see that we

can be a juggernaut in the entertainment business too.

Nothing can happen until we make it happen.

Thanks,

-Chris Love

Heroeslikeme.com 

Synopsis:

In the wake of the bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese on December 07 1941, the United States joined the war that will define a world. Back home, pressure mounts from the black community for black citizens to be able to fight for their country. One of the goals is for black citizens to be trained as pilots. From all over the country, black men travel to Tuskegee Institute to become the first black pilots called the Tuskegee Airman.

Here we meet CURT MASTERS from Alabama in his P-51 Mustang fighting Nazi planes over Germany and Italy. During one these confrontation, he encounters an unknown vessel. Curt believes it is a new Nazi vessel. When he attack the unknown flying object, a tractor beam envelopes him and suddenly he mysteriously disappears. 

Suddenly he awakens on the Planet Ambracon and is informed that he is being charged with Obstruction of Intergalactic 
Operations. Later, he learns that he has been found innocent of the crime, but he learns that Earth must be destroyed in fear
that Earth will bring its warlike tendencies to the stars. 

While he is being flown back to Earth, they fly into a asteroid field and their ship is damaged. He meets ALIENA, a galactic police officer and ARC, a robotic man. They make it to an abandoned old space station. They attempt to salvage parts to repair their
ship when they encounter SUTTER. Sutter is a career criminal who helps them to fix their ship. They make repairs and leave
when their ship runs out of power and they crash lands on an unknown world. 

They look for an element called zurillian which can power their ship and return Curt to Earth. While Curt wanders around the 
strange world, he encounters a large monument. Something activates the structure and he learns that the Warlord, which the 
Galactic Protector has been hunted was actually the First Galactic Protector called ROM VEGA. Curt learns that Rom Vega 
became a villain in order for the various worlds to work together and form a peace alliance by having common enemy. Soon
the planet begins to break apart. They manage to make the ship a "lightning rod" which can channel the energy from the 
exploding planet into their ship. 

They arrive in Earth's solar system and Curt is home.

Curt makes the decision to stay with the Galactic Protectors since his membership will spare Earth from destruction.

Thus Curt Masters aka The Flying Bullet becomes a Galactic Protector and here his troubles begins. 

 

Read more…

Speculative Futures #6...



Topics: Indy Publishing, Speculative Fiction


God Cell: Gate of the Gods Paperback

by Arthur Bellfield, Ra'Chaun Rogers, Vince White, Tony Kittrell, Cloves Rodrigues, Rachel Rodrigues,and Eric Battle

God Cell: Gate of the Gods is a mini-series from the creative minds behind some of the hottest independent comics (The Legend of Will Power, Titan The Ultra Man, War's Chosen and Hierophants) chronicling an epic story that couldn't be told until now! Four visionaries (Vince White, RaChaun Rogers, Arthur Bellfield and Tony Kittrell) came together with this special tale to create an entertaining, well-crafted story that will fascinate ALL readers! The end result was the creation of GOD CELL: Gate of the Gods!

More at:
http://blacksciencefictionsociety.com/page/featured-comic-book

Amazon: God Cell: Gate of the Gods

Read more…

Reductio ad absurdum...



Topic: Existentialism

1 : disproof of a proposition by showing an absurdity to which it leads when carried to its logical conclusion
2 : the carrying of something to an absurd extreme Meridian-Webster

Sigh...


When a member of a gang wrecks havoc, if that gang member is African American or Hispanic, the entire community is expected to condemn the act. Part of it is a self-defensive posture so as to not allow the label to define the entire culture.

When a terrorist attack happens in the world, the entire Muslim community worldwide reflexively condemns the act in the strongest terms for the same reason.

Never mind no such reflexive posturing occurs when the sins of the inquisition or American slavery/Jim Crow/lynching is pointed out during a prayer breakfast, or the killing of Dr. George Tiller by Scott Roeder (his ex-wife accounts when he went over the edge in an interview); the bombings of abortion clinics and gay nightclubs by Eric Rudolph (another stable looking fellow). No, those were "bad actors"; aberrations; individuals, similar to the NRA legal dodge: "guns don't kill people, people kill people" (with acid, knives, screwdrivers, ice picks, bombs, hammers, wars...and sometimes guns). Lest we forget the still-existent (somewhat) Buddhist doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo.

Now, another "winner" from my home state: Craig Stephen Hicks has murdered in cold blood three Muslim students - two of which recently married to each other and the sister-in-law - students at UNC Chapel Hill, over a parking lot dispute. How does one dispute a parking space in a rental property (that the apartment manager already resolved as not his)? The caveat: he's admittedly an atheist. Perhaps he listened to Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and Bill Mahr, or perhaps not. I doubt either man supports his actions. I covered on them last in my Other-ing post in October last year. There were shots fired in a free speech rally in Copenhagen, similar to the reasoning for the Paris massacre of admittedly controversial and purposely aggravating cartoonists.

I'm a proponent of free speech, but many of our number can't and don't do nuance; they can't read or hear it, disagree with it and go on with their lives since prior to their instant fame, it was probably insignificant in their minds. As I alluded to in Terms of Indifference, certain groups of humanity have a Utopian notion of perfection in their minds, and when your other fellow humans feel we've violated that perfection, like weeds in a garden, there is no compunction whatsoever apparently in mowing us down like grass (or, weeds). Many of them are unstable, unlucky and looking for meaning to their predicament. Any slight can be taken as personal; any cause can suddenly become a crusade. Adrenalin is within us all; it is intoxicating, "runner's high"; it is a euphoric rush that can lead down dark paths some would justify as "God's will" and others simply because of prejudice, xenophobia and the want of a parking space.

I know an Atheist married to a Catholic; I know a Christian married to a Muslim; a republican to a democrat. On small scales, we seem perfectly capable of this detente, it is when the weight of unemployment or under-employment, under-education, limited support and opportunities, it brews in a dark cauldron without incantation destined to cast its spell of destruction on us all.  I am reluctant I have to agree with the NRA artful legal dodge, and paraphrase:

Agnostics/Atheists don't kill people;
Buddhists don't kill people;
Christians don't kill people;
Muslims don't kill people;


BUT...certain groups within those subsets with mental health issues can and DO kill people in a myriad of ways. We will never achieve this Nirvana that only exists in their minds. It is intellectually lazy to expect anyone in any group to apologize for the aberrations of a diminutive, destructive fraction. We are suffering as a species en mass from mental disorders that erupt too often in the public sphere.

The prelude to war is usually words spoken or transmitted, offense taken and action. War is mental illness writ large. On a planetary scale, this could lead to a mass extinction event, sadly and likely, the sixth and the last. We are arrogant to think ourselves of value to any alien at this juncture in our history - they are perhaps keeping a safe parsecs distance from the insane asylum!
Read more…

Dr. Marguerite Thomas Williams...

Image Source: a slide show here


Topics: History, Diversity in Science, Women in Science

Marguerite Thomas Williams
Born: December 24, 1895
Birthplace: Washington, D.C.

Marguerite Thomas Williams: Geologist, Geographer


Marguerite Thomas Williams was born in Washington, D.C. on December 24, 1895. She received her Bachelor of Arts degreee from Howard University in 1923 and a Master of Arts degree from Columbia University in 1930. Marguerite Thomas Williams earned a Ph.D. in Geology from Catholic University of America in 1942, as the first African American (male or female) to earn a doctorate in geology in the United States.




Dr. Williams was employed as a teacher in Miner Teachers College (now part of the University of the District of Columbia) from 1923-29. Dr. Williams served as Chairman of the Division of Geography (1923-33) and served from Assistant Professor to full Professor in the Department of Social Sciences, Miner Teachers College, from 1943 to 1955. Marguerite Williams also served as an Instructor for the Evening School at Howard University, 1944.



Dissertation Title: A History of Erosion in the Anacostia Drainage Basin.

Memberships:

Association of American Geographers
Academy of Political and Social Science
First African American Female Ph.D. in Geology

Source: https://webfiles.uci.edu/mcbrown/display/marguerite_williams.html

Read more…

HERStories...

Image Source: see link below


Topics: Diversity, Diversity in Science, STEM, Women in Science


I found this embed utterly fascinating, and completely worth the viewing! It reminded me of a coworker at Manor High School that labored tirelessly (though, she'd probably disagree on the assessment) to teach the sheer joy of physics: Ms. Marisa Nicole Ramos. To Mari and all women in STEM fields, I hope you enjoy this humble tribute...

AWIS: Association for Women in Science
University of Michigan: Women In Science and Engineering
Nuclear Undone blog: Women in Engineering

Read more…

Speculative Futures #5...



Topics: Afrofuturism, Space Travel, Speculative Fiction

Future Shock Vol.1 Issue 1
By Chandar Wilson


An epic tale spanning millennia. From biblical times, and even earlier, to the future labs and boardrooms of seemingly all-powerful corporations where superhumans are manufactured for a price, Future Shock chronicles the evolution of humanity; biologically, socially, and politically. In this high-tech world most people have lost what it truly means to be human; sending much of humanity into a dark spiral. Can one man not born of this Earth turn the tide?

More at:
http://blacksciencefictionsociety.com/page/featured-comic-book
https://gumroad.com/chandarwilson

Read more…

Revealing the Nature...

Five starlike images appear when light from a single quasar passes through a gravitational lens. Image credit: Hubble Telescope/NASA


Topics: Astrophysics, Cosmology, Dark Energy, Dark Matter


For the first 150 million years after the Big Bang, there were no galaxies or stars or planets. The universe was featureless.

As time passed, the first stars formed. Stars collected into galaxies. Galaxies began to cluster together. Those clusters are made up of the galaxies and all the material between the galaxies. Clumps of matter smashed into each other, and the planets in our solar system began to form around the sun.

Something must hold our solar system, galaxies and clusters of galaxies together. And gravity is that "glue."

In some clusters, the space between galaxies is filled with gas so hot, scientists cannot see it using visible light telescopes. The gas only can be seen as X-rays or gamma rays. Scientists look at that gas and measure how much there is between galaxies in clusters. By doing this, they discovered that there must be five times more material in the clusters than we can detect. The invisible matter that we can't detect is called "dark matter."

The Swiss astronomer Fritz Zwicky first used the term "dark matter" in the 1930s. He studied the so-called Coma galaxy cluster and, specifically, how fast it revolves. Clusters are like merry-go-rounds: Their speed of revolution depends on the weight and position of the objects in the clusters, like the weight of the objects and their positions on a merry-go-round. The speed he measured implied the cluster had much more mass than the observable light suggested. *

* NASA: What Is Dark Matter?

Read more…

Dr. Aprille Ericsson...



Topics: Diversity, Engineering, HBCU, NASA, STEM, Women in Science

Aerospace Engineer
NASA


Aprille Ericsson was the first female (and the first African-American female) to receive a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Howard University and the first African-American female to receive a Ph.D. in Engineering at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. She was born and raised in the Bedford Styvesant neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York, and earned her bachelor’s in aeronautical/astronautical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

As a NASA engineer, Ericsson has worked on many projects, including the Microwave Anisotropy Probe, the Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission, the James Webb Space Telescope, and in the Integrated Mission Design Center. Currently she is the instrument manager for a proposed mission to bring dust from the Martian lower atmosphere back to Earth.

Ericsson has won many awards, including the 1997 “Women in Science and Engineering” award for the best female engineer in the federal government, and has been profiled by NBC Nightly News, Essence Magazine, and other media outlets. She is a member of the NASA GSFC Speakers Bureau and the Women of NASA Group. Ericsson also teaches at Howard University at the collegiate and middle school level and is a member of their Board of Trustees.

Info and Image Source: ScienceUpdate.com

Read more…

DSCOVR...

NOAA's DSCOVR satellite launches from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Feb. 11, 2015. DSCOVR will provide NOAA space weather forecasters more reliable measurements of solar wind conditions, improving their ability to monitor potentially harmful solar activity.
Image Credit: NASA


Topics: Climate Change, Department of Defense, Global Warming, NASA, NOAA


A new mission to monitor solar activity is now making its way to an orbit one million miles from Earth. The Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 6:03 p.m. EST Wednesday from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

DSCOVR, a partnership among the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), NASA and the U.S. Air Force, will provide NOAA space weather forecasters more reliable measurements of solar wind conditions, improving their ability to monitor potentially harmful solar activity.

NASA received funding from NOAA to refurbish the DSCOVR spacecraft and its solar wind instruments for this mission. The work was completed at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD, where a team developed the command and control portion of the spacecraft’s ground segment, and manages the launch and activation of the satellite.

Following successful activation of the satellite and check-out approximately 150 days after launch, NASA will hand over operations of DSCOVR to NOAA.

NASA: NOAA’s New Deep Space Solar Monitoring Satellite Launched

Related Links:
An Abrupt Climate Change Scenario and Its Implications for United States National Security
October 2003
By Peter Schwartz and Doug Randall

Quadrennial Defense Review 2014
Department of Defense

Read more…

Speculative Futures #4...



Topics: Diaspora, Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction


KEMESTRY THE BRIGHT LIGHT

By Seta Aset

Out of the ashes of time, it was said in the universe a very long time ago by the Olmecs that a young Nubian woman would be born when the clock struck midnight on Friday, 12-21-12. While growing up as a child, she was knowledgeable many, many years before her time and there werethings she could do that frightened her parents and everyone else who were close to her, for they didn’t understand at the time why she had the gifts. The older she became, the more knowledge and power grew stronger in her. After turning eighteen, she joined the Air Force and was stationed in Minot, North Dakota so she could be nearer to her beloved mysterious crafts.

More at:
http://blacksciencefictionsociety.com/page/book-of-the-month
Amazon: Kemestry-Bright Light, Seta Aset

Read more…

Space Plane...

Credit: ESA/J. Huart, 2011

Topics: European Space Agency, Space Exploration, Spaceflight

The European Space Agency (ESA) plans to launch an experimental space plane this Wednesday to test out technologies needed for vehicles to survive the return to Earth from space.

The unmanned space plane, called the Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV), is slated to blast off Wednesday (Feb. 11) at 8 a.m. EST (1300 GMT) from French Guiana. Its suborbital flight will last 100 minutes.

Space.com: Europe's Experimental Mini-Space Shuttle to Launch Wednesday, by Elizabeth Howell, Space.com contributor

Read more…

Dr. Ernest Everett Just...

Image source: National Academy of Sciences - African American History Program

Topics: Biology, Cells, Diversity, Fraternity, History, Diversity in Science

Earnest Everett Just was an African-American biologist and educator best known for his pioneering work in the physiology of development, especially in fertilization.

“We feel the beauty of nature because we are part of nature and because we know that however much in our separate domains we abstract from the unity of nature, this unity remains. Although we may deal with particulars, we return finally to the whole pattern woven out of these.”

—Ernest Everett Just

Synopsis

Born on August 14, 1883, in Charleston, South Carolina, Earnest Everett Just was an African-American biologist and educator who pioneered many areas on the physiology of development, including fertilization, experimental parthenogenesis, hydration, cell division, dehydration in living cells and ultraviolet carcinogenic radiation effects on cells. Just's legacy of accomplishments followed him long after his death, on October 27, 1941.

Early Life

Earnest Everett Just was born on August 14, 1883, in Charleston, South Carolina, to Charles Frazier and Mary Matthews Just. Known as an intelligent and inquisitive student, Just studied at Kimball Hall Academy in New Hampshire before enrolling at Dartmouth College.

It was during his university years that Just discovered an interest in biology after reading a paper on fertilization and egg development. This bright young man earned the highest grades in Greek during his freshman year, and was selected as a Rufus Choate scholar for two years. He graduated as the sole magna cum laude student in 1907, also receiving honors in botany, sociology and history.

Career Success

Just's first job out of college was as a teacher and researcher at the traditionally all-black Howard University. Later, in 1909, he worked in research at Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory in Massachusetts. Just furthered his education by obtaining a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Chicago, where he studied experimental embryology and graduated magna cum laude.

If that wasn't enough:

When Just graduated from Dartmouth, he was immediately offered a job as an English teacher at Howard University. Two years later, he accepted an appointment as an instructor in biology, and eventually devoted all of his time to teaching biology. In 1912, he established and became the head of Howard's Department of Zoology. 

While at Howard, Just was approached by Edgar A. Love, Oscar J. Cooper, and Frank Coleman about starting a fraternity on Howard's campus. Fearful of the political threat a secret organization of young blacks might pose to Howard's white administration, the university's faculty and administration opposed the whole idea. Just worked at mediating the controversy. And on 15 December 1911, the Alpha chapter of Omega Psi Phi was organized at Howard University.

Because of the difficulty black scientist at that time had obtaining appointments, Just's first inquiries into the possibility of conducting basic research were not initially encouraged. Eventually Frank Lillie, Director of the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Wood's Hole, MA, noticed his determination, brought him to the MBL to study and act as a lab assistant. Just became fascinated with problems of fertilization and development. In 1912, he published his first paper in the Biological Bulletin. In 1915, the NAACP awarded Just the first Springarn Medal. After many delays and obstacles, he obtained his PhD, in 1916, summa cum laude, from the University of Chicago.

1. Ernest Everett Just. (2015). The Biography.com website. Retrieved 03:26, Jan 27, 2015, from http://www.biography.com/people/ernest-everett-just-9359195.
2. Lambda Gamma Gamma, Omega Psi Phi: Dr. Ernest Everett Just

Read more…

Quantum Mazes...

The quickest way to solve a maze exploits both quantum and classical processes, say physicists who have demonstrated the effect for the first time.


Topics: Biology, Photonics, Quantum Biology, Quantum Mechanics


TECHNOLOGY REVIEW: The emerging discipline of quantum biology is attempting to understand the role quantum mechanics plays in the processes of life, such as photosynthesis—the capture of sunlight by plants and its conversion into stored energy.

One phenomenon that physicists have observed is the transfer of energy across giant protein matrices that appears to occur extremely rapidly with close to 100 percent efficiency. These matrices are like giant mazes so the question is how energy can find its way across the structures before it dissipates.

The classical solution to this problem is to explore the maze with a series of random hops. But this process would take so long that most of the energy would be lost.

That’s why physicists think that quantum processes must somehow be involved. Their initial thinking was that the quantum process of energy transfer might work by exploring many routes through the maze at the same time. This superposition of states would then collapse when the solution was found. In this way, the maze can be solved rapidly and the energy transferred efficiently.

Abstract


Escaping from a complex maze, by exploring different paths with several decision-making branches in order to reach the exit, has always been a very challenging and fascinating task. Wave field and quantum objects may explore a complex structure in parallel by interference effects, but without necessarily leading to more efficient transport. Here, inspired by recent observations in biological energy transport phenomena, we demonstrate how a quantum walker can efficiently reach the output of a maze by partially suppressing the presence of interference. In particular, we show theoretically an unprecedented improvement in transport efficiency for increasing maze size with respect to purely quantum and classical approaches. In addition, we investigate experimentally these hybrid transport phenomena, by mapping the maze problem in an integrated waveguide array, probed by coherent light, hence successfully testing our theoretical results. These achievements may lead towards future bio-inspired photonics technologies for more efficient transport and computation.

Physics arXiv: Fast Escape from Quantum Mazes in Integrated Photonics
Filippo Caruso, Andrea Crespi, Anna Gabriella Ciriolo, Fabio Sciarrino, Roberto Osellame

Read more…

{Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun was one of the many works the FBI reviewed before publication.}

Newly declassified documents from the FBI reveal how the US federal agency under J Edgar Hoover monitored the activities of dozens of prominent African American writers for decades, devoting thousands of pages to detailing their activities and critiquing their work.

Click here for the full story

Read more…

A Newbie Again

Hi there!!!

I am new here (2015) but hope to share and looking forward to participating on this site!  Lots here to get acquainted with.

In 2013 I self-published a short story compilation called "Flight of Fantasy Collection" which I hope to republish (long story).  I also published a novella - "First Lost Risen" (2013) - which is currently only available in ebook format on Amazon.  I had some time on my hands and went through various stuff I'd written over the years and found I had quite a few stories in the sci/fantasy genre so I decided to do something about it.

I'm currently putting a programme together for here in the UK to get out and about again following a series of setbacks.  I also write stories around female related issues, so there's a lot that I draw from around the challenges life throws at us!  I'm basically a spiritual type of person and I think that comes through in some of my work.  I've given away loads of books and mostly people of African descent, tell me that before they read my work, they'd never read any science fiction but would certainly read more.  Well, I don't represent the whole of sci/fantasy writing so I hope they get on well with the diversity that's out there!!!

One Love

Patricia

Read more…

Speculative Futures #3...



Topics: Indy Publishing, Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction

Tori #1

Written & Illustrated by Alfonza Lee Hobbie

Captain Tori Anderson’s life just keeps on getting better! Ten years ago a mob hit squad known as the Maddox Clan tried to kill Captain Anderson and her brother. They failed. Tori and her brother were saved by some passing monks. The Maddox Clan wants desperately to finish the job. It’s a matter of reputation. On a planet light-years away from known space. There is a very powerful and deadly Witch. She, the Mob, and the Federation wants Captain Anderson in pieces.

More at:
http://blacksciencefictionsociety.com/page/featured-comic-book
http://www.indyplanet.com/front/product/103860/

Read more…

As Elders Leave the Planet...

Source: Princeton.edu


Topics: Nobel Prize, Particle Physics, Passage, K-meson, Symmetry


I mourn again the loss of another Nobel Laureate, one week from Dr. Townes. As elders inevitably leave the planet, they will be replaced, obviously. The impressive achievements of giants like Townes and Fitch is they did it before an Internet; search engines or laptops. They did their work most likely with primitive mainframes, logarithm tables, CRC handbooks and slide rules. There's a certain romanticism to that.

I really don't know if this is recent info, but I found this description from his Professor Emeritus page at Princeton quite intriguing:

Most recently I have been pursuing the question of the existence of the H particle ("H" for hexaquark). This particle was first proposed by Robert Jaffe who noted that the special symmetry of two u, two d, and two s quarks should lead to a stable particle (stable with respect to the strong interactions) with the quark content of two lambdas. He estimated that the mass should be about 80 MeV below the sum of the masses of two lambda particles. Subsequent calculations using a wide variety of models have given mass estimates ranging from values less than the deuteron to unbound states. The existence of the H remains an experimental question. The driving interest in the particle lies in its being a new state of matter (six quarks in one bag). In addition, if the mass is near the deuteron, it could have a lifetime sufficiently long to have cosmological significance.

From NobelPrize.org:

A Small but Clear Lack of Symmetry


For a long time, physicists assumed that different types of symmetries characterise nature. In a kind of mirror-world the physical laws should be the same if right and left are exchanged and if matter is replaced by antimatter. The left-right symmetry had already been shown to be violated when Val Fitch and James Cronin in 1964 discovered that in the decay of the neutral K-meson the matter-antimatter symmetry is also violated. They could also show that symmetry under time-reversal is not valid: reactions going backward in time are not identical to those going forward.

Nobel Prize in Physics 1980:
James Watson Cronin (student), Val Logsdon Fitch (professor)

News at Princeton:
Nobel Laureate and Princeton physicist Val Fitch dies at age 91
Catherine Zandonella

Read more…