Fantasist's Scroll

“Good morning, Mr. Anderton…”

Wow, shades of science-fiction! According to this article at the Register.co.uk, the US is developing passports with so-called smartcards in them. And, they expect to have them out by the end of 2004. Again, wow.
These smartcards are going to hold biometric data about the holder so that, in theory, they’re harder to copy or counterfeit. At least, that’s what the government is hoping. On the other hand, as my opening line alluded to, there are always ways around security, even biometrics. The line is from Minority Report, which is a pretty damn good movie. It’s based on a story by Phillip K. Dick, who is a great science-fiction author who also wrote the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, which is the basis for Blade Runner.
In any case, see the movie and you’ll see how they get around security by messing with biometrics. It’s really fairly obvious, when you think about it.

A build it yourself Gauss gun!

No, really, you can actually make this sucker in your own basement. This website, in Russian and English, shows you how. It takes you through the process, step-by-step, in somewhat broken English. And, it makes a pistol, not a rifle, which is doubly cool. So, this isn’t a “firearm”, per se, is it covered by the same rules? I’d imagine so. It would be, basically, a concealed weapon. It looks pretty effective, too, based on the photos(here and here). And, because it doesn’t use an explosive charge, there’s virtually no sound when it discharges. I see all kinds of applications for this little sucker.
Look out Traveller, here we come!

This is too fascinating to pass up!

According to this article on Scientific American, blue crabs have two skeletal systems. The first, which is familiar to us all, is their shell. But, when they molt, they use another kind of skeletal system which relies on hydrostatic pressure to get around.
This leads me to imagine an intelligent alien that has a second, invisible, “back-up” skeleton, for emergencies. Or perhaps to make them flexible in some way. Imagine a shelled creature that escapes from a jail by shedding its shell and slithering out an air vent. Or, a humanoid wrestler or warrior who’s neck can’t be “broken”. Really, the possibilities are endless.
Just think about them some, then write about them!

The Argos is going to look at sunken ships in the Black Sea.

The Argos is a robot explorer, for anyone who’s not familiar with it. And its owner/operator, Robert Ballard, is going to look at some very well preserved ships from the Byzantine era. According to this article on Wired News, these 1,500 year-old ships are preserved so well due to a lack of oxygen. Apparently, the little beasties that ravage shipwrecks can’t survive in an oxygen-free environment.
So, it looks like scientists are going to get a much better picture of what life was like in the Byzantine era. The researchers are hoping for everything from cargo to documents that might shed some light on the people who were running around at the time the ship sank. They might even be able to prove the “world flood” that seemed to take place and was recorded as the Flood that Noah survived in the Bible. Kind of cool.

An odd, little item that caught my attention…

In this commentary from the Guardian, a couple of interesting sociological phenomena were brought to my attention.
First, the clever way of dealing with armed robbery in a restraunt. It seems that in certain “unruly” neighborhoods in Honduras, women always order red wine. The reason being that it’s easier to hide their jewelry in their red wine than in white wine. Apparently, they’ve discovered that hiding their jewels in their drinks is an effective way of foiling the robbers.
Second, the whole culture of Americans essentially buying a trophy wife in Latin American countries. Middle-aged men are apparently offering younger women from Latin American countries security in exchange for, well, whatever middle-aged men get from having a trophy wife.

What got me thinking about these two things, though, was how odd it seems to my American way of thinking. So, if my culture skews my vision on this, what else does it do that I’m not aware of? How does that effect my description of a created culture? Sure something to think about as we create our unique, fantasy worlds.

I just finished Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix last night.

A friend who also recently finished this fifth installment of the Harry Potter series said that he thought this was a “darker” novell than the other four. After thinking about it, I had to admit that it was. In fact, the books have been getting progressively darker as time goes on. Which, really, is to be expected. Things have to get more and more dire for Harry and his friends all the way through the last book when he will, no doubt, kill Lord Voldemort.
Otherwise, though, the book was good. The characters are, as they have always been, quite engaging and J.K. Rowling manages to get us quickly interested in what’s going to happen to them next. This year at Hogwarts, we see Harry dating, dealing with family, and find out why he has to stay with the Dursleys every Summer. We also see Harry grow up a little bit, though it’s mainly teen angst and growing pains.
If you’ve been watching the news stories, you know that someone dies in this book. I won’t spoil it and say who, but it is someone significant. And, I correctly predicted who it was early on. I guess I’ve finally figured out Rowling’s writing style enough to make it a little predictable, but the book was no less enjoyable for all that.

Also, I’ve started reading Aliens and Linguists: Language Study and Science Fiction by Walter Earl Meyers. It’s out of print, so I was really lucky to find a copy, but it’s well worth the hunt. I haven’t gotten very far into it, but it’s about linguistics and language used in sience-fiction and fantasy. Very cool.

Okay, this is an old concept, but it’s back in the news, so…

Data-goggles. Info-shades. Whatever you want to call them, they do the same thing. They’re an on-line manual that you can see, and sometimes hear, hands-free while working on something else. According to this story on EE Times, there are auto manufacturers that are actually using them right now on assembly lines to cut training costs and improve effieciency.
Of course, this is a staple of science-fiction. William Gibson used it in Virtual Light and there was a manga (Japanese comic) that used something similar, too. So, once again, we move a little close to science-fiction becoming our reality.
Personally, I’m waiting for a scene like the commercial where the guy is shouting buy and sell orders to, apparently, pidgeons. How soon before we have this technology available to the public? How soon after that will people crash cars because they’re looking through a goggle display instead of looking at the road?

One day, we may all have them.

Yeah, right. Well, okay, it would be fun, but somehow I have a hard time picturing science advancing that far anytime soon. According to this article on Wired News, though, it could be a reality. The article details various “super powers” and the very real science that might, eventually, lead to their creation. Mainly, it’s just a fun article that opens up some creative thinking in regards to the science in science-fiction.