I have recently been to this museum and I have never been more freaked out in my life. My husband wanted to go while we were in LA on vacation but gave me no warning as to the type of museum it actually was.
Your brain hurts trying to make sense of what you are seeing as the hair on your neck stands on end. The rooms are a disjointed dim maze. Sounds with no seeming source play on your nerves even further.
I still don't understnad this place but it was certainly an experiance.
"Many of the museum exhibits leave you puzzled as to how much fact lies within each fiction. Consider the evidence surrounding the Deprong Mori of the Tripiscum Pleateau, a bat which can supposedly pass through solid objects using x-ray rather than sonar."
That's an easy one to dispel.
First, X-rays are produced by displacing electrons from the deepest atomic levels. Thus, it's a fairly high-energy process, about 100 times more energetic than ordinary chemistry (which involves only the outermost electrons). Therefore, any biological organism capable of producing X-rays would fry their own DNA.
But let's assume that somehow this bat is capable of producing X-rays without damaging its own biological structure. Because X-rays are so energetic, they're very penetrating, meaning that they barely reflect off anything, *especially* soft tissue like that of other biological entities. In other words, the bat might be able to send off X-ray signals but they wouldn't be coming back for the bat to process.
Have you ever wondered why, when you take a chest, leg, arm, etc X-ray, they put you *between* the photographic plate and the machine that produces the X-ray? That's because X-ray imaging works through *transmission*, not reflection.
But, hey, let's assume that somehow the bat produces X-ray signals and they bounce back. When they hit the bat, they'll go right through him since, after all, the bat is also mostly soft tissue.
But, well, let's assume that somehow the bat manages to stop the returning signals, meaning that the bat's tissue absorbs the returning X-rays, so that it can process them. Given how energetic X-rays are, how is the bat going to dissipate all that energy if the signals aren't being transmitted nor reflected? The bat's temperature would quickly rise and the bat would be cooked alive.
So, no, there is no such thing as X-ray "sonar", certainly not in the biological world.
Jack Kirby's Fourth World stuff doesn't hold up well for general audiences. You kind of have to know who Jack Kirby is and who the New Gods are to enjoy it. Its greate read but its like the 1978 Superman movie. Kids will get board with it really quick.
On the other hand you can give Scott Pilgrim to just about any nerd and they'll love it.
All Star Superman is great introduction to comics for any reason.
@Fall-Apart: I can't disagree with you more. I enjoyed American Gods very much, even if he did try fitting more ideas in the story than he should have, but I found Anansi Boys to be decent, but nothing more.
@Doctor Who?: Yeah, I enjoyed them both, but wasn't particularly impressed by either one. They both seemed like...I don't know. Like really good treatments of novels that he'd eventually get around to writing.
There was a nice bit in one of the Doctor Who novels where the Doctor takes sputnik on board to take Laika's body out and bury it on the moon before it goes into re-entry.
I'd like to think maybe someday we'll get time travel and some future traveller will go do this.
@Shinju: Thanks for pointing this out. I just went and read it. My opinion of the worthwhileness of the EDA's and of Lawrence Miles has just increased tenfold.
09/08/09
09/06/09
09/06/09
Your brain hurts trying to make sense of what you are seeing as the hair on your neck stands on end. The rooms are a disjointed dim maze. Sounds with no seeming source play on your nerves even further.
I still don't understnad this place but it was certainly an experiance.
09/06/09
That's an easy one to dispel.
First, X-rays are produced by displacing electrons from the deepest atomic levels. Thus, it's a fairly high-energy process, about 100 times more energetic than ordinary chemistry (which involves only the outermost electrons). Therefore, any biological organism capable of producing X-rays would fry their own DNA.
But let's assume that somehow this bat is capable of producing X-rays without damaging its own biological structure. Because X-rays are so energetic, they're very penetrating, meaning that they barely reflect off anything, *especially* soft tissue like that of other biological entities. In other words, the bat might be able to send off X-ray signals but they wouldn't be coming back for the bat to process.
Have you ever wondered why, when you take a chest, leg, arm, etc X-ray, they put you *between* the photographic plate and the machine that produces the X-ray? That's because X-ray imaging works through *transmission*, not reflection.
But, hey, let's assume that somehow the bat produces X-ray signals and they bounce back. When they hit the bat, they'll go right through him since, after all, the bat is also mostly soft tissue.
But, well, let's assume that somehow the bat manages to stop the returning signals, meaning that the bat's tissue absorbs the returning X-rays, so that it can process them. Given how energetic X-rays are, how is the bat going to dissipate all that energy if the signals aren't being transmitted nor reflected? The bat's temperature would quickly rise and the bat would be cooked alive.
So, no, there is no such thing as X-ray "sonar", certainly not in the biological world.
09/05/09
09/05/09
09/06/09
12/15/08
[www.dccomics.com]
12/14/08
12/14/08
On the other hand you can give Scott Pilgrim to just about any nerd and they'll love it.
All Star Superman is great introduction to comics for any reason.
12/23/08
12/14/08
??
12/14/08
11/13/08
11/13/08
Meh, seems like there's never any stories like this taking place in America.
11/13/08
I'm sold. This movie looks really fucking creepy, and a lot of fun.
11/13/08
A lot of Gaiman's (relatively) recent work seems like really good ideas that he hasn't bothered to fully develop.
11/13/08
11/13/08
11/13/08
11/13/08
11/04/08
11/04/08
I'd like to think maybe someday we'll get time travel and some future traveller will go do this.
Peace Laika.
11/04/08