BLOGS

Image Source: Biography.com

Topics: Einstein, Special Relativity, Space Exploration, Spaceflight, Spacetime

Free Physics Book: The Age of Einstein
Frank W. K. Firk
Professor Emeritus of Physics
Yale University

Tomorrow: The Unraveling

I remember it rained a lot in New China. On those days I would hang near the front of the family store, and when my Mother was reading and my Father not in sight, I would silently slip out the front entrance and onto the sidewalk. With my eyes closed, I would lean back against the wall of the store. I could feel the coolness of the wet wind on my face. Above my head the shop signs swayed in the wind and water would begin to fill first the street and then the sidewalk itself. I couldn't wait to get my own spaceship so I could be free!

Image Source: ABB Robotics (link below)

Topics: Economy, Futurism, Jobs, Robotics, STEM

ABB Robotics: YuMi

In this funny short Ron Funches walks you through the best costumes for all your black cosplay needs.

Enjoy YO!

April 29 2015 is the due date for this second volume of CONCRETE PARK. the Sci fi Gang Action/Adventure Comic from husband and wife team of Writer Erika Alexander (Living Single) and Artist Tony Puryear (Screenwriter - Eraser is one of his credits), and Erikas brother is also credited with co-writing. This comic has OUTSTANDING graphics and tight story. Check it out when you can.

LINKS:

http://concretepark.com/

https://www.darkhorse.com/Comics/Previews/24-155?page=0

Just had to post cause I can't wait to see the role that John Boyega and Lupita Nyong’o will play in this installment moving forward with the STAR WARS universe.

Image Source: Technology Review

Topics: Hilbert Space, Modern Physics, Quantum Mechanics, Superposition

Abstract:

Physics arXiv: Quantum music
Volkmar Putz, Karl Svozil

In his spare time, Ship Master Tuo enjoyed perusing through volumes of digitized documents his forces looted in the wake of their invasion of human space. Humans were primitive, but some of their tech displayed flashes of brilliance. Uninterrupted, they may have developed into a power rivaling the Heritin. Of course it was just as well the Heritin shattered the humans when they did. Tuo smirked. The Heritin had enough rivals.

 The next document brought up by the Ship Master was labeled Top Secret. It revealed information about mind transferal experiments. The human agency conducting those experiments went by the name, Special Research.

Tuo perked with interest. These primitives had truly ventured into uncharted territory. According to what he read, at least one mind transferal experiment succeeded. Not even the Heritin could boast an achievement of that magnitude.

His interest, however, turned to a chilling discomfort at the next entry he read, dated five months into the Heritin occupation. According to the entry, typed by a Dr. Gabriel Abimbola, humans had captured a Heritin and subjected the prisoner to a mind transferal. The time and place of capture corresponded to when Tuo sent an expedition to the human home world to collect samples of raw material. The entry ended with no word on the captive’s fate.

Could it be…? Tuo pushed away from his interface console, plagued with worry. No. Not possible. But he was not entirely convinced.

An image of the storage supervisor appeared on Tuo’s interface. “Ship Master, forgive me for disturbing you, but I just completed an armaments inventory. A Class Six detonator is missing.”

Tuo thought hard. A Class Six detonator was a throb of volatile stellar energy bottled inside a dense alloy casing. It could blow a hole in the most powerful battleship…or the largest vessel reactor in space.

Tuo sprang to his feet. Mobile Dock!

Instantly forgetting the storage supervisor, Tuo sent an emergency transmission to the Dock commanding officer. He urged the evacuation of all Dock personnel. Afterward, he beamed messages to his fellow shipmasters advising them to decouple from the docking rings and clear the Dock. As the Ship Master issued a command to Bridge Side to detach the Horuk, a solitary escape craft jettisoned from the Dock’s bulging equator.

Tuo noticed the craft on his sensor and hailed it.

Caretaker Umttor’s visage blazed from Tuo’s interface. The Ship Master gazed at the image. “You are not Umttor, are you?”

“No,” said the image. “Well, most of me at least. How did you know?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Tuo replied resignedly, but with a filament of defiance. “Destroying one Mobile Dock will not cripple us. We are still strong enough to obliterate what remains of your world a thousand times over. In fact, had we not been recalled to the Fleet, we would have finished your species’ annihilation.”

The person Tuo once knew as Umttor spoke in a hard, frigid tone. “My mission was never about crippling you. It was about revenge. We humans are a vindictive lot. Roast in hell, you genocidal son of a bitch.”

Mobile Dock fractured in a blinding boil of light, sending jagged shards of its hull and pieces of battleships hurtling across space.

***

Draper observed the Dock’s demise through his rear cockpit window and cried out in triumph.

Murderer, the voice condemned. You killed our people.

“Not my people,” Draper retorted. But then he thought of his comrades on the Horuk, and an unborn offspring he would never see. A gut wrenching sorrow seized him.

 “I am not Heritin.” He leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. “My name is Darryl Draper…”

So let me get this straight, mainstream media outlets. Only model citizens have the right to not get killed while being arrested. It's not enough to be unarmed. You have to be perfect as well as unarmed. If you were selling loose cigarettes, got in trouble at school, were behind on child support, had weed in your pocket, had an unpaid parking ticket, or ran then you were a thug who deserved to get shot to death or choked to death or otherwise executed. That's what I'm being told. Man. That's messed up. I'm not condoning these actions, but these are not actions where you should get killed as a result of being arrested. So only certain groups of people get their day in court? 

The man who helped his brother pull off the Boston Marathon bombing got to get captured alive and received a full trial to boot, while an unarmed man who owed child support gets shot in the back. You can close your eyes and pretend that none of this affects you. You can tell yourself you're the right skin color or the right religion or have the right educational background or whatever you want to tell yourself. Keep telling yourself you're better than "those thugs who got killed by the cops." Keep claiming that "it could never happen to me or to anyone I love."  

The cold hard fact is that if you keep silent on what's happening now in some communities, the day will come when you will be completely in a police state with no rights. And then that's it. Demanding that the police are properly trained on the proper use of lethal force and that police officers with a history of unwarranted violence or discrimination or corruption need to be removed from being police officers does not mean that you're for anarchy in society. Standing up and consistently demanding the best from police departments puts the bad cops on notice to find something else to do and helps to give good cops the support needed to do their jobs well. 

There's a lot of other discussions we could have, but this post today is about the police and unarmed suspects. 

An Ancient African Game of Thrones Too Big for the Small Stage

16 years ago Creator/Director Shayla Hudson Williams was with her mother at the African History Museum in Washington DC. There she was inspired by the smallest exhibit that made reference to an epic time and story. It was at this moment that she discovered and chose her life’s work, to bring this mostly forgotten and hidden story to life for the world. 

That story is that of the Kush Empire, the darker skinned ancient Africans that overthrew their Egyptian oppressors and ruled for nearly 100 years. The story of the Kush has been shrouded in mystery and mostly hidden for centuries. It is only now that scholars and archeologist are starting to piece together a more accurate picture of these great people. For years Shayla did extensive research pouring through books and archaeological reference to find a story that would make a great feature film. She encountered many dead ends as she would discover one family or story only to have to abandon the concept due to lack of information about them. Finally she uncovered the story of King Piye and his family the subject of The Lost Kings. 

When coming to the stage with her partner Chris Molina and introducing the play, Shayla expresses to the audience that you must use your imagination for what is to come. The Cupcake Theater in Hollywood is a tiny venue.   Most of the action takes place on a small square platform stage with an exit path stage left. There is a curtain back drop where for a few scenes characters enter and exit from the corner stage right. There is also a wooden ladder stage right that leads up to a tiny platform of only a few feet which hangs above the stage. On that platform sits the narrator who is mostly employed to describe the big scale battle sequences and scenes that would require crowds of people to which there are many. 

In the climatic battle of the piece the Kushite city of the protagonists is under siege. I literally needed to close my eyes to picture the epic battle that includes elephants and other wild beasts hidden in underground cages to be unleashed on their unsuspecting attackers. 

Although King Piye played well by Chaim Dunbar is the head of the royal family or House that gives us our point of view in Lost Kingdom, it is really the story of his General and sister Makeda played masterfully by actress Frances Domond. 

At the opening of the story Makeda is wounded in a fierce battle in which she leads the Kushites in a sneak attack against the Egyptians which results in them seizing power and expanding their territory.

A true historical event that one archaeologist in the PBS special entitled “Rise of the Black Pharaohs”, was a real David and Goliath story. 

Returning to the Kush kingdom after the battle Makeda is troubled and considers stepping down as General to settle down with her warrior husband Kibwe, played by Kevin Craig West and start a family. Frances and Kevin have a natural chemistry and this representation of black love and partnership is one of the gems that make up this piece. 

The emotional high point of the play though happens about mid-way through as Makeda confronts her brother Shabaka played by Melvin Ward about his betrayal to the family. I could feel her pain as she confronts the reality of being betrayed by someone she has known and loved her entire life. 

I do think though that the biggest missed opportunity of the work is with the character of Shabaka who turns out to be the villain of the piece. Shabaka is reminiscent of Iago from Othello. It’s a challenging proposition to portray a character who is at once loving brother and scheming traitor at the same time.

It is surmounting this challenge though that I think will unlock some of the greatest potential that lies at the heart of The Lost Kingdom. 

I would be remiss if I did not mention the heart wrenching performance Narlyia Sterling as Subira who is tortured by the loss of her husband Mchumba played by a very entertaining Christian Broussard. 

Also considering the budget they must have had to work with the costumes pretty amazing. Also impressive was the fight choreography which again had to take place in a very limited space. 

I was thoroughly entertained by The Lost Kingdom. The Lost Kingdom in its current integration is very much a work in progress and it was easy for me to see and be excited about it’s potential as a big budget feature film, larger scale stage production or even TV series. 

With the announcement of Disney/Marvels Black Panther Feature and the incredible success of FOX’s Empire I think the time is right for the emergence of projects like The Lost Kingdom. 

#BlackGameofThrones #SwordandSoul #DemThrones

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/lost-kingdom-review-eric-t-elder?trk=hb_ntf_MEGAPHONE_ARTICLE_POST

Image Source: Popular Mechanics

Topics: AI, Aliens, Astrophysics, Existentialism, Exoplanets, Philosophy, SETI

From the write-up in Popular Mechanics last year:

1. Why Superintelligent Machines Are Probably the Dominant Lifeforms in the Universe, John Wenz
2. Chapter 12: Alien Minds, Susan Schneider, PhD

Its so sad but due to insufficient entries to compete in the Comicpanel Pencil Gladiators Competition, we regret to announce that the competition has been cancelled as a stand alone competition. The event had been postponed to give opportunity for more artists to compete in the competition but yet the entries where not enough for a competition to hold. We are very sorry for any inconvinience we may have caused those who sent in their entries.

Check out entries Here

Here's an excerpt from a story from my "Flight of Fantasy Collection" which I published in 2013, having drafted the story on first ABCtales.  If you watched this year's Superbowl - you might find the dance sequence rings a bell.

THE TICKLED BIRD

(Part 1)

When he later remembered, it had been a night of a supermoon.  Julian had followed her into the car park of a pub called The Tickled Bird.  He was certain when she had entered her vehicle, she had been wearing a dark grey suit.  Under the light of this moon it seemed more green than grey.  Perhaps the nearby street lights also added to the effect.

He trailed in the wake of her sleek compact body.  She headed straight for the ladies room.  He approached the bar, ordered a stout on draught.  The pub had an old 1920’s feel which took him back to those black and white movie scenes.  Funny how he’d never spotted the place before, though he had driven around the area on numerous occasions.  He wouldn’t have missed it.  He was certain.  Julian tapped his temple, a habit of his when he’d lost something.

The scrawl on the blackboard announced they were serving rhubarb crumble for dessert.  He glanced back at the ladies room and to the clock on the wall.  She was taking her time.  Probably thought the bloke would be worth it.  He knew better of course. 

He hadn’t eaten a good rhubarb crumble since his grandmother passed away.  He ordered some, without custard and scanned for a seat.  He paid for the dessert.  Half-way on his beeline for a table, the lights dimmed.  He sat down as music started pounding that big band ragtime sound.  A bunch of bounding dancers appeared in the funnel of a huge spotlight, all dressed in black and white stripes with chess piece headdresses.  It was surreal.  He dropped his spoon of rhubarb, had a swig of stout instead. They wriggled and pranced around to the beat on the square patch: syncopated animal moves; mixed black bottom rooted ragtime.  Then as suddenly as the performance had erupted, it likewise ended.  The lights slammed on and he hadn’t even noticed when the dancers left.

She was sat at a table directly opposite him but when he turned to acknowledge the presence of the person standing next to him, she was also there.  Julian wasn’t easily spooked.  She obviously couldn’t be in two places at once, unless she had a twin he didn’t know about.  Maybe the other woman was some sort of decoy?

“Mr Mann, I see you were a touch distracted there.”

“Ahh, Miss Green.  I hadn’t realised you’d noticed me.  Obviously more going on here than I imagined.  Why don’t you have a seat?  You seem to have me at a disadvantage presently.  Can I get you a drink?”  This could provide him with an opportunity to take a closer look at the other woman.  He stood up, meeting her height and slant almond brown eyes.

“You know Mr Mann, you’ve put yourself through an awful lot of trouble to just offer me a drink,” spoken with complete control.

“Could be you’re the kind of trouble worth finding Miss Green.  Please, have a seat.  We can both keep an eye out for your friend.”

“Tut, tut.  You’re so presumptuous Mr Mann.”  She wagged a verdant polished finger.  “Whatever made you think I’m meeting a friend here?” tilting her head but holding her piercing gaze.  Julian raised both eyebrows.  He twisted the ring on his little finger, idling over his mistake.  It was time for him to raise his game.  She turned and walked away before he could say another word.

Image Source: Screen Rant - Prometheus

Topics: Astrobiology, Astrophysics, Aliens, Exobiology, Exoplanets, Humor, NASA, SETI, Space Exploration

Brasillian artist Marcelo d’Salete’s Graphic Novel titled Cumbé, documenting the history of Slavery in Brasil. Check it out... Pass the word, show your support.

http://hyperallergic.com/178249/a-graphic-novel-portrait-of-slavery-in-brazil/

http://www.cumbe.art.br

Forged in the white heat of Vietnam and black-liberation struggles of the late 1960s, UCLA’s radical film-making movement paved the way for black directors. As a new retrospective starts at Tate Modern, one of the original participants recalls how they started

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/apr/09/the-la-rebellion-when-black-film-makers-took-on-the-world-and-won?CMP=share_btn_fb

British production firm PurpleGeko on breaking into broadcast with its romcom: ‘It’s got a predominantly ethnic cast, but there’s no stereotypes in the show’

PurpleGeko is the company behind Venus vs Mars, a comic drama that started life as a six-webisode series on YouTube, but is now airing on Sky Living in the UK.

Click here for the full story