Get your Invisibility Cloak here

Posted by LisaJ

Now this is a super cool new Science story. Have you ever wanted to make yourself invisible? Ever said “man, I wish I could just run away or hide and make everyone go away”? Maybe as a young 8 year old, trying to hide from those bullies on the playground. Or perhaps you’d like to saunter into mass inconspicuously one Sunday morning to grab one of those delicious wafers without starting a riot. Well, if this sounds like you, then your lucky day is (almost) here. Dr. Xiang Zhang and his group from the University of California have reportedly “created a material that could render people and objects invisible”. They are announcing this week, in a pair of articles to be published in Nature and Science, their generation of a 3D metamaterial that exhibits a negative refractive index (thanks negentropyeater). ‘Metamaterials’ are apparently a manmade mixture of metal and ceramic or Teflon like materials (anyone who knows anything about this field is welcome to clarify this!) that function to bend visible light waves quite aptly. These researchers have harnessed this unusual property of the metamaterial they have created to redirect light around 3D objects to effectively disguise or ‘cloak’ them.

This new study represents a major progression in the field, as previously this technology could only be used to cloak very thin 2D objects. Now I’m assuming that the 3D objects they effectively made invisible in these studies were probably pretty small too, we’ll have to wait until the end of the week to find out, but this is a big step closer to allowing humans to obtain their own invisibility cloaks.

This article explains that this ‘new work moves scientists a step closer to hiding people and objects from visible light, which could have broad applications, including military ones. ‘ Which is a pretty cool application, I guess (but also a very frightening one when you think about it). I think it’s pretty obvious what the greatest potential of this new technology really is: to make millions of Harry Potter fans very, very happy. You make a real invisibility cloak and you’ve hit a goldmine with that fanbase.

Now I am by no means a mechanical engineer, materials scientist, or an expert in this particular field. So if anyone would like to add any additional info on how this technology works it would be much appreciated. It sounds very cool, and I’d like to learn more.

Global Awareness

Some commenters have asked for an open thread to discuss the Olympic games. Your wish is Danio’s command.

In the spirit of International cooperation and community building, here’s an interactive geography challenge that someone linked to in the comments of some long forgotten post last month (if you want to identify yourself to me I’ll happily give you credit up front). Can you identify all 204 nations participating in the 2008 Games?

Oh Joy

[Oops. Forgot again. MAJeff posting this one]

——

More War.

I have to admit, this is probably me being an American, but until a few days ago I wasn’t aware of all the tensions between Georgia and Russia. What I know now, though, is that people are dying.

So, for the folks in the know, or in the region, what’s going on? What do you see as root causes? What will be the effects of this conflict? Any good sites for further reading? Anything average citizens outside the region can do?

What I’m reading right now is Top Secret

Sastra here.

I’m about halfway through, and really enjoying, Robert Price’s new book, Top Secret: The Truth Behind Today’s Pop Mysticisms.

Bob Price has an interesting background: he started out as a roaring Pentacostal Minister, gradually grew into a high-end Christian theologian, and eventually evolved to his present form as secular humanist. He’s currently teaching classes in comparative religion — and also happens to be an expert on HP Lovecraft and science fiction. I think this wide-ranging perspective gives him a particular advantage when dealing with religious topics. He’s been into almost everything, and can compare, contrast, and understand different mindsets with apparent ease. His analogies are often original, and spot on.

Even atheists are still influenced by the religious beliefs they once held. I was raised “freethinker.” Nobody at school knew what that meant, and I had a hard time explaining it, since I wasn’t sure what the alternative was. I wasn’t taught any particular religion, but it seemed to be a cultural prerequisite for having a “meaning,” so I would pick up bits and strands of things that seemed interesting to me, and try them on. I remember deciding in 5th grade to worship the Greek gods, since they would clearly be available, and very grateful for the attention. It seemed odd that they had so few current fans. But, by the time I was a teenager, I became enamored of the “psychic sciences,” and got into New Age.

Having since gotten myself OUT of New Age, I am particularly interested in books and articles that address and critique these self-proclaimed more enlightened, sophisticated, “holistic” forms of spirituality. My interest is not merely personal: such views are still held by many intelligent, well-educated, liberal-thinking people – and many of them take it all very seriously, and yield the power to have it taken seriously in secular arenas. These are not really marginal beliefs. As Price writes:

[Read more…]

What I’m reading right now is Top Secret

Sastra here.

I’m about halfway through, and really enjoying, Robert Price’s new book, Top Secret: The Truth Behind Today’s Pop Mysticisms.

Bob Price has an interesting background: he started out as a roaring Pentacostal Minister, gradually grew into a high-end Christian theologian, and eventually evolved to his present form as secular humanist. He’s currently teaching classes in comparative religion — and also happens to be an expert on HP Lovecraft and science fiction. I think this wide-ranging perspective gives him a particular advantage when dealing with religious topics. He’s been into almost everything, and can compare, contrast, and understand different mindsets with apparent ease. His analogies are often original, and spot on.

Even atheists are still influenced by the religious beliefs they once held. I was raised “freethinker.” Nobody at school knew what that meant, and I had a hard time explaining it, since I wasn’t sure what the alternative was. I wasn’t taught any particular religion, but it seemed to be a cultural prerequisite for having a “meaning,” so I would pick up bits and strands of things that seemed interesting to me, and try them on. I remember deciding in 5th grade to worship the Greek gods, since they would clearly be available, and very grateful for the attention. It seemed odd that they had so few current fans. But, by the time I was a teenager, I became enamored of the “psychic sciences,” and got into New Age.

Having since gotten myself OUT of New Age, I am particularly interested in books and articles that address and critique these self-proclaimed more enlightened, sophisticated, “holistic” forms of spirituality. My interest is not merely personal: such views are still held by many intelligent, well-educated, liberal-thinking people – and many of them take it all very seriously, and yield the power to have it taken seriously in secular arenas. These are not really marginal beliefs. As Price writes:

[Read more…]

How to pretend you give a shit about the election

Here’s a little funny for your Sunday morning, just to change things up a bit.

Are you feeling forced to vote for the lesser of two evils in the upcoming (American) presidential election? That trusted source The Onion shows you how you can pretend you care, while not having to vote at all.


Today Now!: How To Pretend You Give A Shit About The Election

Note: because I’ve caused some confusion before, I will note that my text above was largely sarcastic, and I really do believe that it is important to vote.

Posted by LisaJ

This is my body….take….

MAJeff here, playing “host” this Sunday.

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The image above is a bit dated. It was a poster produced for last year’s Folsom Street Fair in San Francsicso. (For those out of the know, the Folsom Street Fair is a queer leather/BDSM festival.) Of course, the tighty-righties got terribly fussy over it.

Now, if you like your christ-cock a bit more hippie-ish, or if you’re a show-tune queen, this might be more up your alley:

That’s from the upcoming film, Hamlet 2.

Of course, you could just get your jesus-jizz the old fashioned way:

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That’s El Greco’s Carducho’s Stigmatization of St. Francis, which is part of a traveling exhibit of Spanish art from the reign of Phillip III. I saw the show in Boston a few weeks ago. Very nice exhibition, overall.

The erotic had been central to many forms of religious expression, not the least of which are the various “saintly ecstasies.” However, move it into popular cultural forms, or turn “the savior” into a black leather queer, and you’ve crossed a whole lotta lines.

Well, pull out a video recorder. Give him a dildo and you can watch Jesus fucking Christ on your DVD player or via streaming video.

Ecuador!

Quito is not a shiny city. It’s a bit shabby, with peeling paint, narrow twisty streets, buses belching fumes, and cheap gray tenements erupting all over the hillsides, and it is also far too churchy for my tastes. But man, it has character. It’s a wonderfully lively place, and what it lacks in chrome it replaces with color and quirkiness and charm. We had a good time today touring the Old City.

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I was charmed by this little restaurant with guinea pigs turning on a spit. We didn’t have a chance to stop and sample them, though, since we had to scurry up the road to visit the equator.

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There’s the famous Trophy Wife, straddling two whole hemispheres at once.

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Tomorrow, we have to rise up early for our flight to the Galapagos — communication may get even more limited for a while. Trust me, though, we’ll be having fun.