Warren Ellis's Blog, page 130
May 6, 2011
AV referendum results:
Southend-on-Sea
Yes : 13,488 (28.1...
AV referendum results:
Southend-on-SeaYes : 13,488 (28.19%)
No : 34,365 (71.81%)(Turnout: 38.13%)
Oh, fuck you.
The Immortal Horizon
Probably the best thing you'll read all day: a fantastic article by Leslie Jamison on the demented Barkley Marathons:
The runners' bibs say something different each year: SUFFERING WITHOUT A POINT; NOT ALL PAIN IS GAIN. Only eight men have ever finished. The event is considered extreme even by those who specialize in extremity.
What makes it so bad? No trail, for one. A cumulative elevation gain that's nearly twice the height of Everest. Native flora called saw briars that can turn a man's legs to raw meat in meters. The tough hills have names like Rat Jaw, Little Hell, Big Hell, Testicle Spectacle—this last so-called because it inspires most runners to make the sign of the cross (crotch to eyeglasses, shoulder to shoulder)—not to mention Stallion Mountain, Bird Mountain, Coffin Springs, Zip Line, and an uphill stretch, new this year, known simply as "the Bad Thing."
Related articles
GUEST INFORMANT: Catherynne M Valente (warrenellis.com)
THREE PANELS: Chris G (warrenellis.com)
Fractured Mars
Newly released images from ESA's Mars Express show Nili Fossae, a system of deep fractures around the giant Isidis impact basin. Some of these incisions into the martian crust are up to 500 m deep and probably formed at the same time as the basin.
Bookmarks for 2011-05-05
"an interactive projector that instantly transforms any flat surface into a touch screen. It frees multimedia content from the confines of the small screen, allowing users to interact with that content just as they do on their hand held devices – using multi-touch technology."
(tags:tech )
Forecast calls for nanoflowers to help return eyesight
"University of Oregon researcher Richard Taylor is on a quest to grow flowers that will help people who've lost their sight, such as those suffering from macular degeneration, to see again."
(tags:tech med nano )
25 years after Rajneeshee commune collapsed, truth spills out — Part 1 of 5 | OregonLive.com
"In a nearly unbelievable chapter of Oregon history, a guru from India gathered 2,000 followers to live on a remote eastern Oregon ranch. The dream collapsed 25 years ago amid attempted murders, criminal charges and deportations. But the whole story was never made public. With first-ever access to government files, and some participants willing to talk for the first time, it's clear things were far worse than we realized…"
(tags:crime cult )
Welcome to the future of drug use
"Ever heard of dimethocaine, methoxetamine or JWH-18? They are 'research chemicals' similar to cocaine, ketamine and cannabis respectively. They were all first synthesized in the last few years and are being produced in large quantities in Chinese factories. They are quasi-legal and readily available over the internet. As a consequence, they are already widely taken. Like mephedrone before them, it probably won't be long before they are banned. And, like mephedrone, no-one really knows if they are safe or not. People haven't been taking these new drugs for long enough for us to know…"
(tags:drugs )
A water ocean on Titan?
"Oddities in the rotation of Saturn's largest moon Titan might add to growing evidence that it harbors an underground ocean, researchers suggest."
(tags:space )
High-tech guardian angels
"The 'guardian angels' will be inconspicuous, intelligent and self-sufficient devices designed to help people in daily life. They include sensors that help small children or people in need of care in complicated life situations. Sensors on and in the body measure different bodily functions, process the data and transfer it to mobile devices via corresponding communication channels. These tiny electronic guardian angels should help elderly or handicapped people retain their independence – even if their mental or physical faculties are in decline. However, the guardian angels are also to act as sensors for the environment, to recognise environmental hazards at an early stage, for instance…"
(tags:tech social )
May 5, 2011
INFINITE KUNG FU
Because you didn't have anything else to do today, I bring you the 250 pages of Kagan McLeod's long-awaited (by me and my friends, anyway) graphic novel INFINITE KUNG FU that Top Shelf have put on the web for free reading.
The complete book is in fact some 464 pages long. The book is out this summer, but if you look at that page, you'll see a link to pre-order it. In the meantime – two hundred and fifty fucking pages of free graphic novel. Go now.
Related articles
THREE PANELS: Paul Sizer (warrenellis.com)
THREE PANELS: Molly Crabapple (warrenellis.com)
Making Things Done (warrenellis.com)
Low Day (warrenellis.com)
I Have Voted. I Have Also Drunk This.
On the way back from the polling station, having put my X towards a hopeful instantiation of AV, I stopped off at the lovely Polish shop and bought a can of this:
This prompted the following discussion between myself and Ariana, after I sent her the above photo:
ARIANA: That is HILARIOUS. I'll bet it tastes like bear piss.
ME: It tastes… different. Weird kind of soft caramel/fruit finish to it. Bear piss might be delicious. Oh god
ARIANA: What?
ME: BUT WHAT IF BEAR PISS IS DELICIOUS AND NOBODY KNEW
ARIANA: I am 100% sure someone knew. You really think there's no horrible human out there that's tried bear piss? I guarantee it's been done.
ME: THAT SECRET-KEEPING BASTARD
Clearly, I must never drink this again.
Poisonous Holy Water
This story is all kinds of fascinating to me and my paranoid writer's mind (write crime or horror or sf, and you need a paranoid mind):
Holy drinking water contaminated with arsenic is being sold illegally to Muslims by UK shops, the BBC has found. Zam Zam water is taken from a well in Mecca and is considered sacred to Muslims, but samples from the source suggested it held dangerous chemicals. Tourists can bring back small amounts from Saudi Arabia, but it cannot be exported for commercial use. An undercover researcher found large quantities of bottles being sold in east and south London, and in Luton…
…and it's full of poison.
Secret recordings captured the vendors describing customers who drank it daily. "They depend on it, they don't drink anything else," said the owner of an Islamic bookshop in Upton Park.
So has someone poisoned fake holy water that Muslims consume by the gallon? That would be an interesting, horrible, paranoid story. But it gets worse:
The BBC asked a pilgrim to take samples from taps which were linked to the Zam Zam well and to buy bottles on sale in Mecca, to compare the water on sale illegally with the genuine source. These showed high levels of nitrate and potentially harmful bacteria, and traces of arsenic at three times the permitted maximum level, just like the illegal water which was purchased in the UK.
The holy water was poisonous all along.
Related articles
The Rusty Technoporn Of Nuclear Russia (warrenellis.com)
On The Mulholland Book Deal (warrenellis.com)
Post-Berlin (warrenellis.com)
GUEST INFORMANT: Ian Hodgson (warrenellis.com)
Bookmarks for 2011-05-04
"Looking like something straight from a 1950's science fiction magazine, the stealthy Phantom Ray unmanned airborne system (UAS) successfully completed its first flight on April 27, 2011 at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base in California."
(tags:tech war )
Magazine Launches Double in Q1 2011 – Editorial @ FolioMag.com
US numbers: "During 2011's first quarter, 54 new magazine titles were launched, more than double the number (25) of publications that debuted in first quarter 2010."
(tags:magazine publishing )
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