Fantasist's Scroll

At least, more about the man who cracked it.

Back in June, I mentioned that someone had uncovered the secret of the Voynich Manuscript. Well, to be more precise, he uncovered the fact that it was a fake. This past month, there was an article on Wired News about that man. he’s quite interesting, really. From what I read, he’s basically in the business of, well, thinking about thinking. He looks at how various professionals solve problems and tries to improve their process. He seems to be quite good at it, too! Anyway, read the article.

Cold fusion, that is.

According to this article on the IEEE website, cold fusion is alive and kicking. Well, at least, it may get a second chance. Apparently, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science will receive a report from a panel of experts on the prospects for cold fusion later this month. (Incidentally, for those of you who aren’t familiar, cold fusion is the “supposed generation of thermonuclear energy using tabletop apparatus.”) You can read more about it at the article.
The interesting thing here, for me, is that this one doesn’t seem to die. No one has been able to reproduce the results of that first experiment. At least, not with any degree of credibility within the scientific community. But, still, they chase the dream. “A reactor in every household!” I can see the slogans now… Ah, well, considering the story I brought you yesterday, I suppose it’s only a matter of time.

I stole that from the article.

This article at New Scientist, that is. It’s all about an idea the US government has come up with to help bring power to the powerless. It is, as the title indicates, a reactor in a box. SPecifically, it’s a small nuclear reactor/power-plant in a sealed container that is easily transportable. It can generate anywhere from 10 to 100 megawatts, depending on the size, but can still be moved “easily” by ship or large truck to where it’s needed. So, why in a sealed container? Why, to help make sure that the Third World countries we shop it out to don’t take it apart to make bombs, of course! So, how long before that happens, do you think? Well, anyway, I thought it would be a thought provoking article.
Enjoy!

An interesting twist on the potential danger of the dead.

Okay, now, usually, when someone says something about how dangerous the dead are, I’m thinking the walking dead. Zombies, vampires, ghouls and the like. But, according to this article on WiredNews.com, the dead can be dangerous in real life!
Frankly, this hadn’t really occurred to me before, but it makes sense. With all the biological warfare agents out and about in the world, a large group of dead can be quite troublesome. Imagine, if you will, a great big pile of very, very infectious corpses baking in the sun. How do you dispose of them without spreading the contagion? How do you handle them to even figure out what the disease, or other agent, that killed them even is? All very good questions. For a few answers, read the article.

War machines march on.

In this case, they’re mostly non-lethal, but they’re certainly high-tech. According to this article on WiredNews.com, the US military are working on a number of interesting new weapons. They’ve got everything from a potential paralysis beam to a microwave pain-inducer. Everything you can think of in terms of science-fiction weapons are being developed. They may never get past the experimental stage, but they’re still quite revolutionary and, well, scientifically advanced. In any case, it’s an interesting article and might spur some ideas about future war. Check it out!

Smart machines on the horizon?

Artificial intelligence, in all its various forms, has been a standard of science-fiction for quite some time. It intrigues us and frightens us at the same time. The idea that a thing created by mankind could eventually out think us is a bi terrifying, but also somewhat attractive. Seductive, if you will.
Well, we may be on our way. According to this article on WiredNews.com, a Welsh scientist has created a simple, but smart, robotic lab assistant. Ross King, a researcher at the University of Wales, has modified some standard equipment in a chemistry lab to build in some basic intelligence. It’s an automated testing machine. Put simply, it runs through thousands of variations on a single, simple experiment automatically, so that a human researcher doesn’t need to do the “leg work”, so to speak. But, that’s not the interesting part. Apparently, Professor King has worked up a program that looks at the data along the way and follows the most promising patterns first. The trick is, apparently, getting the details of what “promising” means worked out and into the program. The rest, well, just sort of happens. It’s not very smart, but it’s a start.

So, now, as a writer, what does that mean? Where will it go? I don’t know, but lots of people have written about it for a long time. Read the article and decide for yourself. Then, write!

Freshly added to the conlang word generator.

Yep, that’s right, now you can generate words, and names, based on languge files torn from the pages of Michael Moorcock’s Elric of Melnibone series. I’ve very carefully entered in loads of words and proper names from the series by hand from several different sources. The beauty of it is, no one could tell if I’d made any spelling errors! These are some seriously crazy names.
Oh, that reminds me, they’re also available in the proper name generator, too. And, just because it strikes me as funny, I’ve also added Melnibonean combined with Latin to both of these. And, I have to admit, it really works fairly well! (Though, the straight Melnibonean occasionally coughs up a little too much data in the name generator. There must be a hidden character somewhere in the file that’s messing things up. Oh, well, no one’s perfect!)

So, go have fun with them!

No, really, you can make your own stamps.

And even use them to send mail. Real, regular, normal, “snail” mail. According to this article on Wired News, the U.S. Postal Service is testing out a personalized stamp program that will let you use your own digital photographs or logos to make stamps that have your own message on them. Hmm, I wonder what they’ll censor? And, I wonder how quickly someone will try to make something “naughty”? (Oh, get your mind out of the gutter! I meant something anti-American, you pervert!)

Anyway, it’s Friday, so go have fun with it. Clean fun! (And, yes, this first appeared on my “other” blog.)