A short/flash story of mine got published by Daily Science Fiction. You can read Cursed Timeline here. There are also some closing thoughts at the end once the story is over; don’t miss those.
Tag: science
DISUM 30-03-2018: Satanic environmentalists, fetus-snatchers, and a pervert judge.
- Ancient Chinese Mega-Dungeon
Hidden For A Thousand Years – China’s ‘Underground Great Wall’ – Ancient Origins, via The Epoch Times 29.03.2018
In ancient Chinese history it is recorded that The Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127 AD) battled for 200 years with the Liao and Jin Dynasties, which at the time were ruled by minority races from China’s Northern Territories, the Khitan and Jurchens respectively. The Northern China Plain was an endless flat ground, with no mountains or rivers that could be used to help defend against the northerners. How then, did the weaker Song Dynasty manage to survive for such a long period of time?
[…] Upon further investigation, experts found that ancient war passages were spread throughout Yongqing County in an area covering approximately 300 square kilometers.
Experts discovered that the Yongqing ancient war passages were widespread. They were in fact a large-scale construction used to house troops during times of war. The structures of the caves were complicated and complete, possessing military facilities such as camouflaged exits, covers, and locking gates.
[…] Experts have dug out similar war passages in Yongqing, Xiong county, and Bazhou. The ancient war passages are about 65 kilometers from east to west, 25 kilometers from north to south, which extend through 1,600 square kilometers.
DISUM 24-03-2018: Astute retirement plan and Inconceivable Chaos
1. French officer who swapped places with a hostage in terror attack dies – CNN 24.03.2018
A police officer who swapped places with a female hostage during an attack by an ISIS supporter on a supermarket in southern France has died of his wounds, French authorities said.
Lt. Col. Arnaud Beltrame, 45, was shot in the neck Friday after offering to take the place of a woman during a gunman’s assault on the Super U supermarket in Trèbes.[…]Last year Beltrame was appointed deputy commander of the anti-terror police in the Aude region.According to the newspaper La Dépêche du Midi, Beltrame led a simulated terror attack in December on a supermarket for training purposes, similar to the one Friday in which he lost his life.
Continue reading “DISUM 24-03-2018: Astute retirement plan and Inconceivable Chaos”
DISUM 20-03-2018 Science news, vidya killers, and Nazi pugs.
- Professor says meritocracy in games is bad, proposes model based on luck and pay-to-win mobile trash.
Continue reading “DISUM 20-03-2018 Science news, vidya killers, and Nazi pugs.”
Asimov’s Adventure editorials IV: Hollywood, movies, and pew-pew sci-fi.
This is the editorial of the last issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction Adventure Magazine, a short-lived magazine from late 1978 to late 1979. I guess he had no idea the magazine was going to be canceled since the subject of this editorial —even if interesting— is probably not about what one would write for a final issue.
Anyway, I liked his comment on how destroying a spaceship in words is as easy as doing anything else in words. That’s something many people who write as if they were filming a movie (or a video game) usually forget.
You can read the other editorials here: first, second, and third.
Continue reading “Asimov’s Adventure editorials IV: Hollywood, movies, and pew-pew sci-fi.”
Asimov’s Adventure editorials III: on mythology, sword & sorcery, and economists.
This is the third editorial [first and second] of Asimov’s Science Fiction Adventure Magazine, a short-lived magazine with only four issues (from late 1978 to late 1979,) where the famous writer explained his understanding of adventure, science fiction, fantasy, and their place in the current scientific era.
His thesis is that there is an important abyss between the pre and post scientific understanding of the world, especially concerning the problem of how to manipulate the universe or to make it work for us. He isn’t wrong, though, but I’d really like to know what was his opinion about writers like Jack Vance, who were aware of that pre and post scientific chasm but consciously played around it to undermine it and mix the different worldviews. Unfortunately, I have never come across any suggestion that Asimov knew or cared about Vance.
Continue reading “Asimov’s Adventure editorials III: on mythology, sword & sorcery, and economists.”
“Asimov’s adventure” editorials II
When reading Asimov’s editorials on adventure I got the impression that he probably would have wanted to write more of them, perhaps thinking the magazine was going to last longer. A certain idea or thesis seemed to be developing on those pages, one about the place of adventure in literature, its relationship with science fiction, and so on, but sadly we’ll never know if it had a conclusion.
Emperor's Notepad 