Researchers Discover How to Conduct First Test of ‘Untestable’ String Theory ScienceDaily (Sep. 2, 2010) — Researchers describe how to carry out the first experimental test of string theory in a paper published September 2 in Physical Review Letters. String theory was originally developed to describe the fundamental particles and forces that make up our … Continue reading “Testing String Theory”
Month: September 2010
Brilliant Marketing
(via What’s new by Bob Park – Friday, September 3, 2010)
(more…)3. STEPHEN HAWKING: HIS BRILLIANT THEORY OF HOW TO MARKET A BOOK.
Send copies to all the pompous nincompoops it will offend. That’s it! They will sell it for you. BBC News today published their reactions to Hawking’s new book in which he says that science can explain the origin of the universe without invoking God. This is “naturalism,” the dominant philosophy of science in the 21st century. It restates the first law of science discovered by Thales of Miletus in 585 BC: for every observable effect, there is a physical cause. I don’t have Hawking’s book, so I don’t know exactly how he said it, but I would have preferred to say: “invoking God would not help me to explain the origin of the universe. Hawking explains that the existence of gravity means the universe created itself from nothing. The first offended pompous nincompoop was Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks in the Times: “What would we do for entertainment without scientists telling us with breathless excitement that God did not create the universe as if they were the first to discover this astonishing proposition.” Yes, and did you learn anything?
Don’t Box Me In
Stan Ridgway and Stewart Copeland – “Don’t Box Me In”:
(more…)Friday Random Ten: 2010-09-03
| Name | Artist | Album | Genre | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | We Do What We’re Told (Milgram’s 37) | Peter Gabriel | So | Rock |
| 2. | Laser Show | Fountains Of Wayne | Utopia Parkway | Alternative & Punk |
| 3. | Radio Silence | Thomas Dolby | The Golden Age Of Wireless | Alternative & Punk |
| 4. | Big Dumb Town | Stan Ridgway | Black Diamond | Alternative & Punk |
| 5. | Welcome Aboard | Jerry Goldsmith | Star Trek: First Contact | Soundtrack |
| 6. | Joy of Life/Trout In The Bath | The Corrs | VH1 Presents the Corrs Live in Dublin | Pop |
| 7. | Regression | Dream Theater | Metropolis Part 2: Scenes from a Memory | Metal |
| 8. | (Listen to the) Flower People | Spinal Tap | This is Spinal Tap | Soundtrack |
| 9. | The Only Living Boy In New York | Simon & Garfunkel | The Best Of Simon & Garfunkel | Folk |
| 10. | This Dying Soul | Dream Theater | Train Of Thought | Metal |
The Stig
At Long Last, the Stig Lifts His Visor The Stig is portrayed by Ben Collins…
Custom Cleavage
Fried Cheese Melt
Dirk Gently detective novels adapted for TV
Douglas Adams’ Dirk Gently detective novels adapted for TV
The BBC is adapting Douglas Adams’ detective science fiction/fantasy novel Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency for the small screen. While Adams is wildly famous for his comic SF series, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, he also wrote two detective novels, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency and The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul, and started a third novel in the same series, The Salmon of Doubt. While incomplete, The Salmon of Doubt was published after his death along with a collection of other rare material. If you’re a fan of detective fiction, science fiction, fantasy or comedy (or all four!) the first two novels are a must read. While not as hysterically funny as some of the earlier Hitchhiker books, their complicated, witty and intelligent plots (and sub plots), along with the quirks of the central character Dirk Gently, are addictive and warrant a second (or third) reading.
Dirk Gently believes in the “fundamental interconnectedness of all things”, his operating principle when presented with detective puzzles, and he’s not afraid to go off on tangents and rack up massive expense accounts to get to the bottom of any case. First published in 1987, the original novel features time travel, Chaos Theory, an electronic monk from another planet, and the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Some of the time travel plot was borrowed from the Doctor Who story City of Death (part of Doctor Who‘s golden age when Tom Baker was in the lead role). Adams wrote City of Death while working as Doctor Who‘s script editor. On its cover, the first book is described as a “thumping good detective-ghost-horror-who dunnit-time travel-romantic-musical-comedy-epic”.
The BBC is producing a 60 minute pilot first, with plans to do more if the pilot proves popular. The only plot summary offered so far is that Dirk tries to solve the “disappearance of a cat from an old lady’s house.” The script is being written by Howard Overman, creator of Misfits and Vexed, and will be broadcast on BBC4 at the end of this year. The BBC previously broadcast a radio adaptation of Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency starring Harry Enfield in 2007, and there was a stage production starring Scot Burklin in 2006.