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| Dilbertdotcom |
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This section is to provide info on various learning opportunities that are available of various topics.
http://www.blacksciencefictionsociety.com/forum/categories/education-learning/listForCategory
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| Credit: AIP-Lead-in Photo |
The American Institute of Physics publishes several articles on "The Physics of Cancer," and related articles illuminating the research in the topic towards a cure for the disease.
I offer this with some sensitivity and personal experience: my father ultimately expired from lung cancer in 1999; my mother was a breast cancer survivor until her passing in 2009.
It is comforting to know that biological, physical and mathematical sciences, and the yeoman's work of researchers are concentrated on this issue: the extension of human life in length and quality the ultimate goal.
For us as a nation to have a contribution and a stake in this, we need to encourage our youth to enter these fields, engage them in the classroom with exciting labs and non-threatening presentations; as contributors to the advancement of knowledge, not just the end-user-consumers. There should be a way to present science, technology, engineering and mathematics with a little less militancy (as in my own case); entertaining without theater or pedagogic sophistry.
For those, as I, who've been affected similarly, trust that there will be a dawn where like polio, this will ultimately be a part of our history.
Science...and hope.
We've arranged a global civilization in which the most crucial elements — transportation, communications, and all other industries; agriculture, medicine, education, entertainment, protecting the environment; and even the key democratic institution of voting — profoundly depend on science and technology. "We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology." This is a prescription for disaster. We might get away with it for a while, but sooner or later this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces.
Carl Sagan, The Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, (1995) Ch. 2 : Science and Hope, p. 26, source: Wikiquote
American Institute of Physics: Physics of Cancer, Edited by:
Robert H. Austin, Princeton University, NJ
Bernard S. Gerstman, Florida International University, Fla.
Colorado University: Discussion of Science and Hope (referencing Carl Sagan)
The picture taken in Reno, Nevada, on Sunday morning shows a meteor the size of a minivan plunging through the Earth's atmosphere, according to Bill Cooke of the Meteoroid Environments Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
Of course, this would have been one heavy minivan. Cooke said it weighed about 154,300 pounds. Your minivan probably weighs in at about 4,000 pounds.
CNN Light Years: NASA: Meteor over California and Nevada was size of minivan
30,000,000 years of Tritium!
Good Day, Everyone!
I’m excited to announce that my debut novel, Trash, is available for your reading pleasure! If you would like a hard copy of my debut novel, you must purchase it from Lulu.com. If you would like Trash as an e-book, Amazon Kindle is the place to go.
Here are the links!
For E-Books: Amazon Kindle
For H-Books: Lulu.com
Not sure, you’re even interested in my debut novel? Check out the free previews chapters at the following websites!
Choice #1: Author’s Den
Choice #2: Fictionpress.com
I’m really excited that my long-held goal has finally been completed! However, this adventurous trip has just begun!
I am working on an ongoing art project in circular forms. Reminds me of diviners and tea leaf readers. A collage of paper shapes on a plate. I stumbled upon some curious configurations, one lights the whole room, one whirls like a tempest in a tea cup. Each form destructs or constructs or transtructs. Been getting strange emails of late asking me to sale the forms for 10 qzots and 50 quantizims. I was worried about alien abduction er thugs but one email had a disclaimer about the rite of passing permissions and unlawful energy flow access strictly enforced. Am I legit after all I stumbled upon this thing, this phenomenon, energy wells and shafts. I glanced in the mirror and saw a glowing mark on my right ear. I touched the mark while gazing in the mirror, a heads-up display appeared with records of procedure, sales and of course my diploma from Megagalactic Tech where I majored in multi polar quansits and quantim metacircular transforms. Sales have been down and I am spending time in my transient impersonation on vacation. I guess I like it too much and forgot myself. On this side of the galaxy I'm called "eBe", the energy bender. Anyway circular transforns are all the rage. Next year we are venturing into squares, yeah it's old school but folks like that edge of the universe feeling they get whizzing through the quantimhood. Qzots, you know the exchange rate into dollars is insane. Better off insisting on Quantizims, as they can be transduced into any currency in this universe. Did you note anything starting with a "q" sounds quosmic?
...minus Chili Palmer!
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| LASplashdotcom |
Replacing roofs and pavements with more reflective versions could lower global temperatures by up to 0.07 °C, equivalent to a reduction in carbon-dioxide emissions of about 150 billion tonnes. That is according to researchers in Canada who used a global climate model to look at the effects of such albedo changes in urban areas.
I almost don't want to post the next paragraph:
"Scientists have been proposing novel ideas – mostly untested – for the geoengineering of global climate," says Hashem Akbari of Concordia University. "But humans have had experience with white buildings and reflective pavements for thousands of years without any unknown negative side effects. Hence, cool urban surfaces should be our geoengineering 101."
The problem isn't geoengineering...it's political will.
Physics World: Reflective roofs and pavements could fight climate change
The battle flag ship Righteous Staff moved into the planet’s higher orbit to join the five hundred Varient Class assault cruisers present.
Cleric Ovisl of the Order of the Cleansed stepped onto the bridge’s visual interface plate, activating a holographic image that pieced together like a photonic jigsaw puzzle.
A face and a background formed before the cleric. A scene of fire, smoke and red-tinged devastation framed the visage.
“Cleric Ovisl,” the image uttered with a justified mix of fear and reverence.
Ovisl was one of those rare clerics who enjoyed venturing beyond the cloistered confines of the Yarilian Temple.
“Your presence is a most unexpected pleasure.” The image’s features broadened to a welcoming smile.
“I congratulate you on your victory over the heretics, General Pirqai,” Ovisl offered graciously.
The flag ship’s captain, Uriss, and Ovisl’s prime aid, Ipsol, flanked the cleric.
“Your praise is worth more than a mountain of treasure,” General Pirqai gushed. “Over thirty million heretics we have erased from this existence. Millions more await punishment for their crimes against the Bringers and those who uphold the Precepts.”
“I am pleased with the vigor of your efforts to crush dissenters and preserve the Precepts.”
Pirqai’s preening blinded him to the creeping coldness encrusting the cleric’s expression.
“Of course,” Ovisl continued. “Putting down uprisings have been something of a regularity for you from the day you assumed power. It is an endeavor that you have been exceptionally good at. Unfortunately, you govern a population that chooses willful disobedience over the wisdom of the Bringers. And your population has made that atrocious choice repeatedly enough as to have exhausted the patience the Bringers have for so long harbored toward the wayward.”
“I need more mediators,” Pirqai eagerly requested. “So that the wisdom of the Bringers can be reinforced. Plus, I need additional funding to construct new temples. I have had to raze thousands of temples that were used as bases for heretic activity. These measures in addition to my purges will decrease the likelihood of future revolts.”
“We have sent you enough mediators to fill all the temples in a dozen star systems,” Ovisl emphasized, glancing at his prime aid, who lifted a hand in agreement. “You have been provided with enough funding to purchase the Compact five times over. All to little avail. General, your world has become a hotbed of heresy and while you have managed to stamp out its activity in one area, in another it arises anew like a regenerating head on a multiheaded headed serpent.”
The gloss of accomplishment on the general’s face paled to a look of dire concern. “Blessed Cleric…I can assure you that after this day, there will be no more trouble from heretics…”
“I do not doubt that you sincerely believe that.” Ovisl turned away from the general’s image. “I do not doubt your loyalty or your faith. You are a true Child of the Bringers. What I do doubt is your ability to eliminate heresy permanently. Your world has become hopelessly contaminated. There is only one cure for what ails your population. Because your world is not essential to the existence of the Compact, this is a cure I can well afford to implement.”
Ovisl stepped off the plate and the general’s image disassembled amid a flurry of desperate pleas.
“You may begin decontamination, Captain.” Almost as an after thought, Ovisl added: “I am not nearly as patient as the Bringers.”
Captain Uriss briskly acknowledged the cleric’s command and snapped orders to Weapons Control, orders that reached the orbiting assault cruisers.”
A single object, shaped like an octagon and approaching the size of a large satellite, launched from each cruiser and the flag ship.
The objects burned through the planet’s atmosphere on guided trajectories. Most soared toward the planet’s five continental land masses. The remainder zeroed in on the planet’s largest oceans and seas.
The objects shattered in synchronized detonations less than a fourth of a mile above the surface. Purple clouds were released by the airbursts. The artificial cumulus billowed across the surface with a ravenous swiftness no natural storm system could hope to match. Chemical agents suffused the rapidly coalescing clouds; agents that paralyzed, asphyxiated, then burned its victims, not with fire but with acid.
Ovisl observed monitor footage from a hundred different angles of mass death below. The millions General Pirqai proudly proclaimed to have slaughtered became a pitifully faint tally in comparison to the five and a half billion claimed by expanding chemical clouds.
A sickly purplish shroud coated the atmosphere, displacing ecosystems, choking the planet in a worldwide grip of death.
Bridge monitors flashed grim images of charred corpses layering city streets, and rural lands. The chemical clouds even penetrated the waters, summoning sea creatures from murky depths where they floated lifeless atop acid-churned waves. Vegetation wilted and died. Mountains and buildings and other features constructed by sentient hands or molded by nature appeared unscathed by the chemical catastrophe. They were not. The chemical was persistent and in time, its lingering, corrosive effect would grind the staunchest structures to powder. Who knew when this planet would be livable again? A decade? Centuries? The creators of the chemical did not concern themselves with such a matter. Their only focus was the level of its lethality.
Ovisl lowered his head, muttering a solemn prayer, not for those among the deceased who had denied the truth of the Precepts, but for the many more billions of innocents who suffered the lamentable fate of being collateral damage.
“The Bringers will know their own and reward them for their faith and devotion.” Buoyant with the fervor of the righteous, Ovisl exited the bridge, followed by his prime aid.
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| Dirac Cones - PhysicsWorld |
Physicists in the US have done calculations that suggest "Dirac cones" exist in thin films made of bismuth and antinomy. Dirac cones are features in the electronic band structure of a 2D material where the conduction and valence bands meet in a single point at the Fermi level...According to Tang, the films could also form the base material for next-generation electronic devices. "Electron speeds in devices made of bismuth–antimony would be hundreds of times greater than those in current silicon devices," he says.
Physics World: Dirac cones could exist in bismuth–antimony films
Upcoming FREE Workshop
Topic: Character Cake (Character Development)
Facilitator: Deatri King-Bey
Date: Apr, 28 2012
Time: 4-5 p.m. Central
Location: Become A Successful Author Website (link and password will be given the day before th...e event)
Note: You must be signed up for the newsletter to attend the workshop. A link to the monthly newsletter is on the right hand side menu of the Become A Successful Author website. http://www.becomeasuccessfulauthor.com/2012/03/whos-telling-this-story-point-of-view/
Enjoy
Dee
ATTN: Sci-fi and Fantasy authors, here is a free course given by the University of Michigan: Fantasy and Science Fiction: The Human Mind, Our Modern World https://www.coursera.org/#course/fantasysf
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| German artist Alexander Preuss, Ufunkdotnet |
Walt Disney Imagineering is the master planning, creative development, design, engineering, production, project management, and research and development arm of The Walt Disney Company and its affiliates. Representing more than 150 disciplines, its talented corps of Imagineers is responsible for the creation of Disney resorts, theme parks and attractions, hotels, water parks, real estate developments, regional entertainment venues, cruise ships and new media technology projects.
By blending creativity and innovative technological advancements, Walt Disney Imagineering has produced some of the world's most distinctive experiential storytelling... more at the site.
Call it "Dreaming Dreams," part II, and a help to teachers instructing science:
Scoopdotit: Using Science Fiction to Teach Science
The Hierophants is back up for sale at these fine retailers
The Hierophants @ ComicsMonkey
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| Nabbed. This oddball transistor with a normal metal electrode (N) and a superconducting electrode (S) registered signs of Majorana fermions at the two ends of a nanowire spanning the electrodes. Credit: V. Mourik et al |
In 1937, after the rise of quantum mechanics, Ettore Majorana, an Italian theoretical physicist, realized that the new physics implied the existence of a novel type of particles, now called Majorana fermions. After a 75-year hunt, researchers have now spotted the first solid evidence of their existence. And their discovery could hold the key to finally creating workable quantum computers .
Prior to Majorana's work, Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger came up with an equation that describes how quantum particles behave and interact. Paul Dirac, an English physicist, tweaked that equation to apply it to fermions, such as electrons, moving at near-light speed. That work tied together quantum mechanics and Einstein's special theory of relativity. It also implied the existence of antimatter, where every particle has an antimatter counterpart—such as electrons and positrons—and that the two would annihilate each other if they ever met. Dirac's work suggested that some particles, such as photons, could serve as their own antiparticles. But fermions weren't thought to be among them. It was Majorana's manipulations of Dirac's equations that suggested the possible existence of a new type of fermion that could serve as its own antiparticle.
Science Mag: Physicists Discover New Type of Particle--Sort Of
My writing is taking a back seat as I prepare for the first of two solar eclipses this year. On May 20th there will be an annular eclipse of the Sun. During an annular eclipse the moon moves in front of the Sun, but part of the Sun remains visible. It is necessary to wear protective eyewear at all times. Here is a short video showing the January 6, 2011 annular eclipse as recorded by the Hinode Satellite.
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?media_id=49165671
For the annular eclipse I will be in Tokyo, Japan, making a documentary film. The documentary titled "Black Sun" is about two African American astrophysicists and their upcoming observations of the solar eclipses in 2012. We are raising funds for the filming in Tokyo via a Kickstarter Campaign.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/677592353/black-sun-documentary-film-about-the-2012-solar-ec
I am passionate about this project because it shows a different part of the African American community, a part normally not seen. We made a short five-minute promotional film of our two stars: Alphonse Sterling and Hakeem Oluseyi.
http://blackcommunityentertainment.com/videos/1345/black-sun-five-minute-short
The annular eclipse will be visible from the western United States. Remember to protect your eyes.
Wish me luck on the campaign!
...a fictional one, a dear literary memory so we will not become "smooth dinosaurs" (Octavia Butler, "Parable of the Sower"; "Parable of the Talents").
Web site: The B612 Foundation
The Little Prince: Asteroid B-612
There are three extremely important elements of story creation. Therefore, it is highly important that all aspiring writers hone their skills in these three areas of fictional writing. These three elements are important for any type of story regardless of the story’s length be it a short story, novella, or novel. This three elements are: the beginning, the point-of-no-return, and the climax. Each of these elements has an important function in crafting a story and can either make or break it. If either of these story elements are lacking, nonsensical, or not present, the audience/reader of that story will either quickly forget it or worst – feel like they have wasted their time!
What is the story’s beginning?
There are numerous and varied definitions for a story’s ‘beginning’. However, I think the most helpful of ways an author can think of a beginning is this - the establishment of the promise of your story. Every story makes a promise to its reader, and that promise can be anything! (This is why there are so many different genres of fiction!) Depending on the type of fictional story you are writing (for example: a romance promises a love story or a thriller promises excitement), your promise will vary. However, in the end, that’s really what a beginning of the story is: crafting and setting up a promise to your readers.
What is the point-of-no-return?
The point-of-no-return is the scene, act, or chapter of a story that ‘seals the character(s) fate’. This is generally were the middle of a novel starts. It’s the scene were the audience/reader realizes that the characters can’t go back and must face whatever trials and problems that await them during the tale.
What is the climax?
Most aspiring writers mistakenly believe that the climax is the end of the tale. Wrong! The climax is where the beginning’s promise is fulfilled. If you are a romance’s writer – that character must find love, or you’ve failed your readers. If you’re a mystery writer – the main character must solve the crime. Failure to fulfill those initial promises in your stories will only make your readers feel disgusted or cheated. Therefore, your story has reached its climax when the story’s beginning promise is fulfilled.
So remember – whenever writing a fictional story, make sure that these three elements, the beginning’s promise, the point-of-no-return, and the climax, are well established because these three elements will determine if your story becomes a classic or is tossed into the trash!
Three weeks ago my fiction and poetry collection, How to Recognize a Demon Has Become Your Friend received a Bram Stoker Award!!!! Amazing! The competition was all good so I'm honored to have received it.
Then two poems from the collection are on the Honorable Mention List for Best Horror of the Year, volume 4 (by Ellen Datlow)
[http://ellen-datlow.livejournal.com/391918.html]
Feeling real blessed here...linda
I had a Ford coil--a spark coil from an automobile--and I had the spark terminals at the top of my switchboard. I would put a Raytheon RH tube, which had argon gas in it, across the terminals, and the spark would make a purple glow inside the vacuum--it was just great!
One day I was playing with the Ford coil, punching holes in paper with the sparks, and the paper caught on fire. Soon I couldn't hold it any more because it was burning near my fingers, so I dropped it in a metal wastebasket which had a lot of newspapers in it. Newspapers burn fast, you know, and the flame looked pretty big inside the room. I shut the door so my mother--who was playing bridge with some friends in the living room--wouldn't find out there was a fire in my room, took a magazine that was lying nearby, and put it over the wastebasket to smother the fire.
After the fire was out I took the magazine off, but now the room began to fill up with smoke. The wastebasket was still too hot to handle, so I got a pair of pliers, carried it across the room, and held it out the window for the smoke to blow out.
But because it was breezy outside, the wind lit the fire again, and now the magazine was out of reach. So I pulled the flaming wastebasket back in through the window to get the magazine, and I noticed there were curtains in the window--it was very dangerous!
Well, I got the magazine, put the fire out again, and this time kept the magazine with me while I shook the glowing coals out of the wastepaper basket onto the street, two or three floors below. Then I went out of my room, closed the door behind me, and said to my mother, "I'm going out to play," and the smoke went out slowly through the windows.
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman, Part 1: From Far Rockaway to MIT: He Fixes Radios by Thinking!
NobelPrizedotorg: Richard P. Feynman
