Where pop culture meets geek culture and they make out a little.
Posts tagged World News
Skelebunnies and My Next Novel
21036 days
by kilian
in General Nerdom
Has anyone read Skelebunnies? And if so, is it as awesome as it sounds? And if so, how is it possible for anything to be so damn awesome?
And I know that gilgrim is shaking his head as he reads this, no doubt, since Skelebunnies is published by the same good people who published his own Cemeterians, but damnit, I barely pay attention to anything at the best of times.
So, I’m thinking of a novel to write. It has this lost tribe of Egypt who, after the Babylonians invade Jerusalem, take off with the Ark of the Covenant (the first, wooden ark, not the second golden one) to Africa. The tribe eventually interbreeds with the natives and, after a few centuries, the tribe loses track of the Ark, though the story of its escape into Africa remains a part of the tribe’s history. Then, in modern times, a British archeologist who has been searching for the Ark is able (based on the tribe’s story and DNA evidence that suggests they are descended from the Israelites) to track down the wooden ark to a museum in Africa. But after he publishes his find (to international acclaim) the ark disappears. He then embarks on a quest to re-discover the ark, only to realize that an African warlord has stolen the ark and plans to use its power (plus a stock pile of nuclear weaponry) to declare war on the world.
So most of that…except for the stuff about “nuclear weapons” and “declaring war on the world” is all pretty much true…
You know what they say about truth and fiction, right? Well, that’s a best seller ripe for the taking.
Muse — Muscle Museum
One Day Later
71187 days
by kilian
in General Nerdom
There are plans (GREAT PLANS!) in the works for a more visually stimulating response to yesterday’s historic day of history making historicity. We shall see if said plans come to fruition.
What I will say, at this point, is that I’m still digesting it. I mean, it’s a little weird to think that we (well, those of us who voted) were a part of a truly monumental moment in American history. More than that, though, what Obama emphasized during his speech last night was true…we’ve (the country) only taken the first few steps on a long and (probably) difficult road.
Today in “The Slow Demise of All Media Not Digital” Google Books
1195 days
by kilian
in General Nerdom
See, the thing is, when you have more money than almost anybody (or any company) you can decide to blatantly disregard existing laws and do what you want.
So, remember when Google said it would start scanning books into an online digital database that anyone could access for free? Well, even though most of what’s in there can’t be seen completely (mostly you get “previews” of books, unless a particular work is out of copyright, then the whole thing is there) the Association of American Publishers and the Author’s Guild both decided to sue Google. It was announced today that Google has reached an agreement with both parties.
A Brief Moment to Say Goodbye
21244 days
by kilian
in General Nerdom
It is entirely possible that when you read this, the universe will have ended…or been sucked into a black hole…or something. Right now it’s almost 11 PM on the West Coast which means that they should be turning on the Large Hadron Collider over there in Europe soon.
If you’re interested, this Wired article gives a good account of some the stuff they are hoping the LHC might help to make more clear.
Of course, since we’re all going to die in a slow, agonizing way, it’s probably of little account.
Either this guy is stupid or…no, he’s just stupid.
31305 days
by kilian
in General Nerdom
So a dude walks into a library in D.C. with a copy of Shakespeare’s first folio and asks if the staff there can authenticate it.
It just so happens that exact folio was stolen from Durham University Library (in Jolly ol’ England!) 10 years ago.
The guy claims to have bought the folio in Cuba.
I’m not positive…but is the Supreme Court displaying some sort of multiple personality disorder?
31320 days
by kilian
in General Nerdom
It’s been a while since I’ve gone off on a politically minded rant…a variety of reasons having contributed to this; disgust with the democrats nomination process, nothing to say about McCain that hasn’t been said before, generally trying not to pay a whole lot of attention for a while.
In any event, the supreme court had a couple rulings today.
I’m waiting for the next piece of bad news.
71323 days
by kilian
in General Nerdom
Today started out well enough. I’m only working through Thursday this week as Friday starts a 10 day vacation, so I was in reasonably good spirits this morning until…
I heard on the radio that George Carlin had died.
For a long time I’ve considered Carlin a hero of sorts. I’ve never had a real big desire to be a stand-up comedian. But George Carlin was one of those few performers who could accurately be described as a “wordsmith,” and as a person who also fancies himself pretty handy with the…what do you call it when you make with the words in a certain order, sentences…I’ve always greatly admired his skill with language.