SCI-Fi Junkie

[Gloryfication]

Project Cosmos (http://conceptships.org/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=42&start=0&sid=c0890eca21769f30ef133cb1cd1c6ac0)

http://conceptships.org/download/file.php?avatar=84_1218685844.jpg

Joined: Wed Aug 13, 2008 9:39 pm
Posts: 172
Location: SD, Cali
http://conceptships.org/styles/serenity/imageset/icon_topic_latest.gif (http://conceptships.org/viewtopic.php?p=106&sid=c0890eca21769f30ef133cb1cd1c6ac0#p106) Project Cosmos
Hello everyone!
I found this forum from a link posted on the site and I thought this would be a great place to show some of the things I'm working on.

Project Cosmos is a science fiction Universe I'm building from the ground up- from races, politics, technology, culture, planets, etcetera. It's a very deep and rich universe that I'm developing and I thought I would show some of the concepts (in varying stages of roughness) to you all! Since this is a site for just vehicles I'll only focus on that stuff. If you want to see the aliens, planets, and more check out the link I mentioned above :D.

Thanks for having me!
Ok, here's the art...

P.S. I'm not sure how frequent updates will be given the specific subject matter of this site. I'm designing aliens, planets, and clothing right now, but rest assured more ships are coming. There's a butt load I have to make hahahaha. :)

[Gloryfication]

n June 2002, the Bodleian Library acquired the unique complete manuscript of a hitherto unknown Arabic cosmographical treatise, the يKitāb Gharāʾib al-funūn wa-mulaḥ al-ʿuyūn, known as the Book of Curiosities. The manuscript is a copy, probably made in Egypt in the late 12th or early 13th century, of an anonymous work compiled in the first half of the 11th century in Egypt. The treatise is extraordinarily important for the history of science, especially for astronomy and cartography, and contains an unparalleled series of diagrams of the heavens and maps of the earth.ي

The acquisition of the Book of Curiosities was made possible by a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund and generous donations from the National Arts Collections Fund, the Friends of the Bodleian, ARAMCO (Saudi Arabia), several Oxford colleges, and private individuals.

These grants and donations, along with the Arts & Humanities Research Council, have also funded the project to prepare a full study of the treatise, including an edition of the Arabic text and English translation, and to disseminate the results as widely as possible through the internet, exhibitions, and an outreach programme.

This is the site of that research. It contains an electronic high-quality reproduction of the original text and its illustrations, linked by mouse-overs to a modern Arabic edition and an English translation.

When citing this resource in academic publications, please use the following citation:
Emilie Savage-Smith and Yossef Rapoport (eds.), The Book of Curiosities: A critical edition. World-Wide-Web publication. (www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/bookofcuriosities) (March 2007).

[Gloryfication]

Rachel McAdams reveals new clues about Sherlock Holmes

http://scifiwire.com/assets_c/2009/03/RachelMcAdams_WeddingCrashers-thumb-300x272-15417.jpg
Rachel McAdams has just wrapped shooting Sherlock Holmes for Guy Ritchie, with Robert Downey Jr. as Holmes and Jude Law as Watson. She plays Irene Adler, a character from the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle story "A Scandal in Bohemia."

At the press junket for the journalism thriller State of Play on Friday in Beverly Hills, Calif., McAdams told a group of reporters about her experience on Holmes, including its tone and its bromance. The following Q&A features edited excerpts of that interview.



What can you tell us about Sherlock Holmes?

McAdams: It's pretty big. I didn't realize how big it was until I stepped on the sets, and they were just massive. It's in true Guy Ritchie fashion, too. It's lots of fighting and explosions, but, I think, from what I've seen, obviously Robert Downey Jr. is an amazing actor, and so is Jude Law. They make a wonderful duo. I think some people are probably skeptical. Everybody has their preconceived notions about Watson in particular. Everyone's like, "Watson's supposed to be like this." Anyway, I just think Jude is a perfect Watson, oddly enough, and they're really perfect together. That's kind of the love story, actually. I play supposedly Sherlock's love interest, but it's really Watson.

You were surprised—did you expect a costume parlor drama?

McAdams: Well, I didn't know what to expect. I didn't know, and I didn't know if it would be kind of a satire of Sherlock Holmes in some ways, or they'd really want to boost up the comedy. It's a really nice balance of the two. It's quite serious and quite heart-pumping, and, at the same time, there's humor in these light moments, too. I've seen just a little sizzle reel of it, and it looks beautiful.

Do you get some cool costumes?

McAdams: I get the best of both worlds, because Irene goes undercover and she wears men's clothes, but she also wears these beautiful, really outlandish bustles. She wears hot pink all the time. She's not afraid to stand out in a crowd.

Does that help get you into character?

McAdams: Oh, yeah, it's so helpful.

What is the year like for you, with this and Time Traveler's Wife coming out later?

McAdams: Oh, who knows? It's going to be busy, that's for sure. It's already busy. I don't know. It's exciting. I'm really glad that everything's coming out. I'm glad it's not all coming out on top of each other. I'm just excited. The films are all very different, which is great. We'll see what happens.



By Fred Topel (http://scifiwire.com/contributors/fred_topel/)
9:04 PM ON 03/27/09
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(3) Comments (http://scifiwire.com/2009/03/rachel-mcadams-reveals-ne.php#comments)

parkin1976:
Really interested as to how this film will work out. Can't think of anyone better than Downey Jnr to play the Great...More » (http://scifiwire.com/2009/03/rachel-mcadams-reveals-ne.php#comments)





Comments
By shroudedwolf at 9:10 AM ON 03/28/09

http://scifiwire.com/images/scifiwire/comments/balloon_top.gif I have high hopes for this movie. I've always enjoyed Sherlock Holmes stories, so I hope this one is well done and sticks to the feel of Doyle's works even with some of the satire.


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By achudnow at 1:27 PM ON 03/28/09

http://scifiwire.com/images/scifiwire/comments/balloon_top.gif I doubt it, not with "lots of fighting and explosions". That's not Doyle at all. If you want good Holmes on film check out the Jeremy Brett videos from the BBC. Wonderful!


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By parkin1976 at 5:02 AM ON 03/29/09

http://scifiwire.com/images/scifiwire/comments/balloon_top.gif Really interested as to how this film will work out. Can't think of anyone better than Downey Jnr to play the Great Detective today - though Granada TV's production with Jeremy Brett will be a hard act to follow.


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[Gloryfication]

Definitions of Science Fiction

These definitions of science fiction are for those of you who are not satisfied with Damon Knight's definition of science fiction, which appears in the rec.arts.sf.written (http://news:rec.arts.sf.written) FAQ: "...[Science Fiction] means what we point to when we say it." Some of the definitions here have been obtained over the internet in the bad old days where there were no flashy www interfaces to the net, over gopher and ftp links, so not only am I unable to credit the sources I found them, but also I am not exactly sure of their autenticity. Some of the definitions, I think, I got from the gopher server at Lysator. The definitions I have personally extracted from reference works and such are always credited below the excerpt, and I say when I am quoting verbatim or I am paraphrasing stuff taken from conversations etc.

Hope you enjoy this. If you have any more definitions you think would be added here, please send them to gokceNOSPAM @ panix DOT com (remove NOSPAM) , if possible, with the information about where you found it, and I'd be happy to include it in the future.

[Gloryfication]

http://a52.g.akamaitech.net/f/52/827/1d/www.space.com/images/h_mars_cloud_062000_01.jpg NASA announces discovery of evidence of water on Mars
By Andrew Bridges (http://www.space.com/php/contactus/feedback.php)
Pasadena Bureau Chief
posted: 08:03 pm ET
20 June 2000



SPACE.com has learned that NASA hasdiscovered evidence of water on the Red Planets surface. The finding, made bythe Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft, fuels hopes that there may be life onMars.

Mars Looms Large NASA Chief: Mars Troubles Not Due to Lack of Funding: Daniel S.Goldin told the House Science Committee Tuesday that the space agency's recent loss of two missions to Mars was not the result of a tight budget at the space agency. Want to Learn More? (http://www.space.com/news/spaceagencies/mars_goldin_000620.html) http://a1484.g.akamaitech.net/f/1484/827/1h/www.space.com/template_images/elements/e_dottedlined_120.gif
Study Shows Public Supports Mars Trip: A healthy majority of the public is ready to give the thumbs-up on sending U.S. astronauts to Mars. Theyare also backing the building of a space station. Those are among the findings of a wide-ranging survey released by the National Science Board, a governing body of the National Science Foundation (NSF). Want to Learn More? (http://www.space.com/news/nsf_space_poll_000620.html)

Sources close to theagencys Mars program said the discovery involves evidence of seasonal depositsthat could be associated with springs on the planets surface.

NASA plans to make theblockbuster announcement during a press conference scheduled for June 29,sources said.

The discovery, ifconfirmed, would mark the achievement of a primary goal in NASAs program toexplore Mars.

NASAs ambitious plans forMars focus on gaining an understanding of the potential for either past orpresent life on the planet. The program also aims to improve sciencesunderstanding of Mars climate and its resources.

Key to all three themes iswater: Where and when it may have flowed in the past, where it might lurk todayand in which forms and what quantities.

NASA scientists on the MarsGlobal Surveyor team declined to comment, pending the press conference andsubsequent publication in the journal Science of a paper on thediscovery.

Ed Weiler, NASA associateadministrator for space science, told the National Academy of Sciences SpaceStudies Board on June 14 that the Mars program needs a clear-cut vision. Thereal reason to go is to find out if life is there or not, he said.

"To meet thatlong-term mission requires that you follow the water. Without water there is notlifethere was not life," Weiler said. "By following the water, itall fits together. So for the first time, we have a really good, clear,long-term vision for Mars."

Water most likely flowed inthe distant past on Mars, carving channels and other features clearly visibleon its surface. But other than in the form of clouds and ice, liquid watercannot exist on the planets surface today, thanks to the thinness of itsatmosphere.

Scientists havehypothesized that vast stores of water could still persist beneath the surfaceof Mars.

http://www.space.com/images/v_mars_water_000620_03.jpg

NASA has suggested that certain martian features, as seen in this 1997 image, may indicate fluid seepage.


In a 1997 Mars GlobalSurveyor image, shown above, scientists proposed that water could have seepedfrom the walls of this unnamed crater in the planets southern hemisphere, andperhaps even pooled at the bottom of the impact basin.

At the time NASA originallyreleased the image, it urged caution about adopting any one hypothesisexplaining its details. Although the labeled version shown here listswater-related sources for the craters features, NASA stressed they could alsobe explained by the flow of lava.

http://www.space.com/images/v_mars_water2_062000_03.jpg

Although the features could be explained by the presence of water, as in this labeled image, they could be volcanic in origin.


Finding water on Mars willlikely put spurs into future mission planning: The American space agency willin upcoming weeks announce whether it will send an orbiter or lander spacecraftto Mars in 2003. (In 2001, it plans to send only an orbiter to the planet.)

"It's not like peopledont suspect there's water on Mars. We certainly know there was probably waterin the past in fairly good quantities with all these older features," saidJack Farmer, an astrobiologist in the Department of Geology at Arizona StateUniversity, Tempe.

"But actually findinga place where water might make it to the surface, or at least some expressionof it such as gases emitted into the atmospherethat would be a big deal,"he added.

The finding of upwellingwater could mean striking biological pay dirt, Farmer said.

"In that situation,where you have water coming up from depth, into the surface, you might bereplenishing the ground ice there on a fairly regular basis. Even if you nevergot liquid water to the surface you might be able to sequester organicmaterials, prebiotic chemistry or life, whatever, in the ground ice inventory,which you could access then by shallow drilling," Farmer said.

By finding liquid waternear the surface, or actually part of the surface environment, "you couldreally move the whole question of searching for life ahead significantly, Ithink," Farmer said. "You could do some sort of shallow drillingprogram in a robotic sense, well in advance of any human missions," hesaid.


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[Gloryfication]

News

Controversy over galactic 'FREAK'

Thursday, 26 March 2009

Cosmos Online

<div class="content"> <div class="nodeextras"> http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/files/imagecache/news/files/news/freak3.jpg A tiny and extremely rare galaxy sits at the edge of the much larger and well-known Sombrero Galaxy.

Credit: Hubble Space Telescope Imagine!

[Gloryfication]

Imagine!The theory of everything.

[Gloryfication]

Losts of imagination.Lord Tophet: A Shadowbridge Novel
Gregory Frost
Del Rey, 225 pages
http://www.sfsite.com/grc/0902/lt.jpg (http://www.sfsite.com/gra/0807/ltlg.jpg) Gregory Frost
Gregory Frost is a graduate of the writing program at the University of Iowa and of the intensive Clarion Writers Workshop at Michigan State University. He attened the Sycamore Hill Writers Workshop at NC State University and, in the 90s along with Judith Berman and Richard Butner, took it over and moved it to Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. It has since returned to the mountains of North Carolina. Gregory Frost Website (http://www.gregoryfrost.com/)
ISFDB Bibliography (http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?Gregory_Frost)
SF Site Review: Shadowbridge (http://www.sfsite.com/02b/sb290.htm)
SF Site Review: Shadowbridge (http://www.sfsite.com/06a/sb273.htm)
SF Site Review: Attack of the Jazz Giants and Other Stories (http://www.sfsite.com/04a/aj221.htm)
SF Site Review: Attack of the Jazz Giants and Other Stories (http://www.sfsite.com/08b/jg206.htm)


http://www.sfsite.com/images/pastleft.gif (http://www.sfsite.com/reviews1.htm) A review by Tammy Moore
Advertisement window.google_render_ad(); Lord Tophet is the second and final Shadowbridge novel. A challenging, twisty story that moves between interlaced narrative threads as the characters move between the arching, alien Spans that make up their world.

In Shadowbridge, Leodora escaped the repressive, abusive -- but safe -- Span of her childhood in order to become the secretive, talented shadow-puppeteer Jax. With her manager Soter and her gifted, other-worldly musician Diverus, she travelled the Spans, collecting myths and inspiring comparisons to the legendary shadow-puppeteer Bardsham wherever she went.

Flattering, dangerous comparisons, to brilliant but doomed Bardsham who was her father and although it has been years since he disappeared, his enemies still hope to capture him. Enemies that draw ever closer as the wandering troupe finds itself on Colemaigne, where Bardsham held his final performance and the cruel Lord Tophet blighted the Span for harbouring him. Only Soter knows the true story of all that happened but, even as he struggles to protect his ward, he cannot bring himself to tell the truth about what happened all those years ago. If Leodora is to find the answers she seeks then she must find them herself. Who is Lord Tophet and why has he hounded Bardsham and his child so relentlessly?

Lord Tophet is a folktale from a world dreamt into being by a fish and a god. It is many stories within one, each story adding a thread to the narrative until, at the end, we finally see the full picture. The main story is that of Leodora, orphan and hero, avenging "son" (while pretending to be "Jax" the boy) and destined hero. She has made a career out of collecting and retelling myths, marking the common elements that inform the stories from Span to Span, but she is still caught off-guard to find her own life becoming myth. Her history becomes mutable: altered to suit the needs of the story, to suit the symbolism of the Span that repeats it. Like Suald -- a character in one of Leodora's tale -- her life is changed to suit the story.

The Hero has a Thousand Faces after all, and Gregory Frost does seem to have been influenced by Joseph Campbell's work on monomyth and the Hero's Journey. Lord Tophet begins in the Belly of the Whale and makes a stop at many of the seventeen stages before it ends at The Freedom to Live. Campbell's work on the monomyth has been criticised over the years, but applied intelligently -- and Gregory Frost's work is certainly that -- it works well in this sort of story.

There's also a strikingly folklorish element in the construction of Gregory Frost's world. It is a land of bridges, dreamt into existence and populated by water-spirits, living puppets and old gods -- and he makes no attempt to explain their existence or create a logical system of magic. It is strange, exotic and lush.

It is possible that the conclusion of the story could seem a little too convenient -- with everything falling into place just in time -- but within the framework of the story it makes absolute sense. By that point the story is fully realised and Leodora is knowingly fulfilling her role it in. Narrative inevitability dictates the story could not end otherwise.



Copyright © 2009 Tammy Moore Tammy Moore is a speculative fiction writer based in Belfast. She writes reviews for Verbal Magazine, Crime Scene NI and Green Man Review. Her first book The Even -- written by Tammy Moore and illustrated by Stephanie Law -- is to be published by Morrigan Books September 2008.

[freetips]

i was so amazed for the stories that every one post in here.i think our mother earth now is too old that a lot of things are happening and every one has its own opinion about it.really great thread for me.