Just a short item I tweeted earlier – it doesn’t really fit into a Sunday Summary, but I thought Flashers might find it interesting.
You might also call this the unstated ending of the last story arc, involving the Sweet family.
We haven’t seen the last of those miscreants, however.
http://twitter.com/#!/JRDSkinner/status/81783957498232832
We’re rapidly approaching episode 100, which has me quite excited. While every story hasn’t been exactly what I’d like it to be, I do take some satisfaction in having written over 100,000 words in the last seven months.
I’m hoping to make #100 something a little extra special by introducing a new series into the mix – tales from another apocalypse.
No worries, however, as Ruby won’t be ending: she’s just going to have to share the post-“collapse of human society” space with a new cast of characters, and a cataclysm which, to the best of my knowledge*, fiction has never quite encountered before.
I’ll be teasing it all the way till next Monday, so watch this space.
Implication #1:
*A free Flash Pulp sticker to the first person who proves me wrong.
The first item of note is that both Neighbours Part 3 and Melody have been updated to include the full journal scans.
Also, in other Ruby news that might interest fans of our anti-zombie heroine, I took some photos while out traveling this weekend:
Finally, Friday’s Blackhall will be up tonight, but this week’s run of Joe Monk stories will begin to appear tomorrow with a double-episode-Wednesday. I know I promised two-on-Tuesday, but this long weekend wiped us out unexpectedly.
Savour this evening’s tale of a stranger, and tomorrow you’ll have all sorts of space antics to fill up on.
Just a quick note to point out that Sam Van Olffen, one of my favourite artineers, put together a tribute to Frank Frazetta. (Not pictured at left.)
Pulp was obviously deep in Frazetta’s veins, so much so that they’d likely have needed a sieve if he were to visit a blood bank, but for my money Van Olffen is the pulp of our times – that man can attach a rotary barreled chain-gun to anything.
A quick follow-up to audioboo-ography 4.
St Raphael’s is situated in the former Charlottenburgh Township, now South Glengarry on the seventh concession back from the St Lawrence River. Commenced by Alexander Macdonell, vicar general and future Roman Catholic Bishop of Upper Canada, this large stone church served a congregation of Gaelic- speaking Catholic Highlanders who had settled in the easternmost county of Upper Canada in 1786. – St. Raphael’s Ruins – About
Around our house, Boston Dynamics are the rock stars of robotic technology. Finding that they’ve distributed a new video on youtube is like waking up to a full stocking on Christmas morning. I’ve posted previously about their most famous design, The Big Dog, but here’s an updated video – now with 50% more “Holy #$%@, did you SEE that?”
[youtube_sc url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNZPRsrwumQ]
The bit where it’s climbing cement blocks near the end got me wondering what happened to an older off-shoot of the Big Dog project, Little Dog:
[youtube_sc url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIipbi0cAVE]
Back to having my mind blown with new content though, they’ve managed to get The Petman up to 4.4mph!
What’s The Petman you may ask? It’s either the cutting edge in bipedal robots or walking wide-awake nightmare fuel.
[youtube_sc url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ja_UsmXVPVk]
A couple of pictures for later consideration:
Most interesting article I’ve read today:
Trees retaliate when their fig wasps don’t service them
Figs and fig wasps have evolved to help each other out: Fig wasps lay their eggs inside the fruit where the wasp larvae can safely develop, and in return, the wasps pollinate the figs.
But what happens when a wasp lays its eggs but fails to pollinate the fig?
The trees get even by dropping those figs to the ground, killing the baby wasps inside, reports a Cornell University and Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute study published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society. – More at PhysOrg.com
An oldish video:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nhj3Z9o6t0g]
Also:
The author initially conceived of the idea for the squeeze machine from her observations in animal science. Cattle being held in a squeeze chute, while waiting in line for veterinary attention, often appeared somewhat agitated during the waiting; some of the animals, however, seemed to relax once pressure was applied to large areas of their bodies… In working with children, we have found that 5 minutes of sustained use of the squeeze machine is the minimum typically required to obtain a readily detectable calming effect.
Is ours a future full of relaxed autistic people encased in squeezy robotic exoskeletons?
I’m sick, so I thought I’d follow up on some notes I’d left myself to check out.
Maybe the most interesting:
Bridger had a remarkable sense of humor and he especially loved to shock tenderfeet and easterners with his tall tales. He would tell of glass mountains, “peetrified” birds singing “peetrified” songs, and reminisce about the days when Pikes Peak was just a hole in the ground. These stories were related in such a serious manner as to fool even skeptics into believing them, making Jim’s laughter all the louder when his ruse was revealed.
All of these attributes served Bridger well, and made him adaptable to just about every situation he found himself in. By the end of his lifetime, Bridger could claim the titles of trapper, trader, guide, merchant, Indian interpreter and army officer. –Mountain Men
At first I wasn’t sure if Bridger was a real fellow, I picked up his name from a brief mention by LT. Aldo Raine in Inglourious Basterds. Although Bridger had impressive true stories to tell, I find his tall tales pretty brilliant:
Supposedly one of Bridger’s favorite yarns to tell to greenhornswas about being pursued by one hundred Cheyenne warriors. After being chased for several miles, Bridger found himself at the end of a box canyon, with the Indians bearing down on him. At this point, Bridger would go silent, prompting his listener to ask, “What happened then, Mr. Bridger?” Bridger would reply, “They kilt me.” – Wikipedia