Third Eye Surveillance

As I know some of us are writing papers on Little Brother, I thought I would share this rather creepy article.

A New York professor installs a camera in the back of his head to take photos 24/7 as a means of expression for an art exhibit. However, the University is making him wear a cover over the lens while he's teaching and on campus to protect the privacy of its students.

I thought it was 1. creepy, and 2. interesting considering the different surveillance issues we've discussed throughout class after reading Little Brother.

The link to the article (with video) is in the title. Enjoy?

A trip through time

Since we are watching Doctor Who I thought this would be the perfect time to share with you all another one of my internet finds. This is an article in which Stephen Hawking describes why, though time travel to the past is likely impossible, we may one day be able to leap into the future. A bit long, but a pretty good read if you don't get scared off by all the physics-talk. And I mean, this is one of the best physicists in the world telling us that time travel is possible. How cool is that?


And as the semester draws to a close, there is one more link I have that you sci-fi fans may be interested in: The world's first cyborg. This little robot is controlled entirely by a rats brain via bluetooth. One step closer to the Naked Brains!

Star Wars versus Star Trek

While browsing reddit, I stumbled upon the image above, which got me to thinking about the various levels of completeness in conceptualization of science fiction worlds. Many, if not all, of the stories that we read for the class had a very firm grasp over the universe that the author was attempting to create. In contrast, many of the more popular elements of science fiction are not as fully realized. Aside from the obvious comparison drawn between Star Wars and Star Trek in the picture, what other competing depictions that exhibit this dichotomy can you think of?

NASA Press Conference

The title link is to a news item about a press conference that NASA is giving tomorrow to talk about new findings in astrobiology. In other words, non-Earth lifeforms. Seems like something that all science-fiction fans should keep their eyes on.

Sin in Boneshaker

As we noted in class, I have moved from Marxist interpretation to Christian interpretation for my next paper. Specifically I am looking at the function of the blight in Boneshaker specifically as an allegory for mortal sin. I appreciated the suggestions in class and if anyone has any additional thoughts, I would like to hear them.

The End is Nigh!

Yes, it's sad but true... the semester is coming to an end. I have to say that I'm going to really miss our weekly meetings. They've been a lot of fun, and I'm really looking forward to our final, Doctor Who-filled session. I'm still hard at work on my paper, as I know most of you are. For this final blog post, I decided to post one last article that I found interesting as I was just messing around on the internet. This one, inspired by the upcoming movie, "Cowboys & Aliens," makes an interesting case that Sci Fi may be this era's Western. There are a few fun points that the author makes, as well as a few things that make Sci Fi better, so it's worth a look if your interested or even just bored, as was the case with me. The link is in the title!
Finally, relating to the Walking Dead, I just wanted to add that I've been reading the graphic novels (I'm currently on the 5th collection of... 13 so far, I think), and they are pretty intense. If you like the show and haven't read them, I highly recommend them. The show has already taken quite a few liberties, and the plot is quickly becoming its own entity, but honestly, I kinda like that, because it allows me to basically enjoy two separate stories as I watch one and read the other.

Alternative energy

Well I think I've got my topic all lined up, just need to write. I'm going to concentrate on Windup Girl and the use of kinetic energy storage, and the utter lack of any other power source. I also want to look at zero-point energy and what it is and would it actually work as described in River of Gods. And just for fun I think I might actually look at how energy is produced in Howard Tayler's Schlock Mercenary, but my main focus is probably going to be the Windup Girl.